•MMillHHI 


THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

RIVERSIDE 


c/  ^ 

Engraved  by  John  J  M-Carty 


THE 


HISTORY  OF  THE  REIGN 

OF   THE 

EMPEROR 

CHARLES   THE   FIFTH. 


BY 


WILLIAM    ROBERTSON,  D.D. 

Mi 


AN  ACCOUiNT  OF  THE  EMPEROR'S  LIFE  AFTER  HIS 
ABDICATION. 

BY  WILLIAM    H.   PRESCOTT. 

NEW    EDITION. 


IN  THREE  VOLUMES. — VOL.  I. 


PHILADELPHIA' 

J.    B.    LIPPINCOTT    &    CO. 

1875. 


M171 


1873 

v.l- 


Entered,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1856,  by 

WILLIAM    H.   PRESCOTT, 
In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  for  the  District  of  Massachusetts. 


Entered,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1874,  by 

J.   B.   LIPPINCOTT    &    CO., 
'In  the  Office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress,  at  Washington. 


ADVERTISEMENT. 


THE  life  of  Charles  the  Fifth  subsequently  to  his 
abdication  is  disposed  of  by  Dr.  Robertson  in  some 
six  or  seven  pages.  It  did  not,  in  truth,  come  strictly 
within  the  author's  plan,  which  proposed  only  a  his- 
tory of  the  reign  of  the  emperor.  But,  unfortunately, 
these  few  pages  contain  many  inaccuracies,  and,  among 
others,  a  very  erroneous  view  of  the  interest  which 
Charles,  in  his  retirement,  took  in  the  concerns  of  the 
government.  Yet  it  would  be  unjust  to  impute  these 
inaccuracies  to  want  of  care  in  the  historian,  since  he 
had  no  access  to  such  authentic  sources  of  information 
as  would  have  enabled  him  to  correct  them.  Such  in- 
formation was  to  be  derived  from  documents  in  the 
archives  of  Simancas,  consisting,  among  other  things, 
of  the  original  correspondence  of  the  emperor  and  his 
household,  and  showing  conclusively  that  the  monarch, 
instead  of  remaining  dead  to  the  world  in  his  retreat, 

took  not  merely  an  interest,  but  a  decided  part,  in  the 

(iii) 


iv  AD  VER  TISEMENT. 

management  of  affairs.  But  in  Robertson's  day  Si- 
mancas  was  closed  against  the  native  as  well  as  the 
foreigner ;  and  it  is  not  until  within  a  few  years  that 
the  scholar  has  been  permitted  to  enter  its  dusty  re- 
cesses and  draw  thence  materials  to  illustrate  the 
national  history.  It  is  particularly  rich  in  materials 
for  the  illustration  of  Charles  the  Fifth's  life  after  his 
abdication.  Availing  themselves  of  the  opportunities 
thus  afforded,  several  eminent  writers,  both  in  Eng- 
land and  on  the  Continent,  have  bestowed  much  pains 
in  investigating  a  passage  of  history  hitherto  so  little 
understood.  The  results  of  their  labors  they  have 
given  to  the  world  in  a  series  of  elaborate  works, 
which' however  varying  in  details,  all  exhibit  Charles's 
character  and  conduct  in  his  retirement  in  a  very 
different  point  of  view  from  that  in  which  it  has  been 
usual  to  regard  them.  It  was  the  knowledge  of  this 
fact  which  led  the  publishers  of  the  present  edition  of 
Robertson's  "Charles  the  Fifth"  to  request  me  to  pre- 
pare such  an  account  of  his  monastic  life  as  might 
place  before  the  reader  the  results  of  the  recent  re- 
searches in  Simancas,  and  that  in  a  more  concise  form 
— as  better  suited  to  the  purpose  for  which  it  was  de- 
signed— than  had  been  adopted  by  preceding  writers. 


AD  VER  TISEMENT.  v 

I  wa;  the  more  willing  to  undertake  the  task,  that  my 
previous  studies  had  made  me  familiar  with  the  sub- 
ject, and  that  I  was  possessed  of  a  large  body  of 
authentic  documents  relating  to  it,  copied  from  the 
originals  in  Simancas.  These  documents,  indeed, 
form  the  basis  of  a  chapter  on  the  monastic  life  of 
Charles  at  the  close  of  the  first  Book  of  the  History 
of  Philip  the  Second, — written,  I  may  add,  in  the 
summer  of  1851,  more  than  a  year  previous  to  the 
publication  of  Mr.  Stirling's  admirable  work,  which 
led  the  way  in  the  series  of  brilliant  productions  re- 
lating to  the  cloister  life  of  Charles. 

In  complying  with  the  request  of  the  publishers,  I 
have  made  the  authentic  records  which  I  had  received 
from  Simancas  the  foundation  of  my  narrative, — fr.ely 
availing  myself,  at  the  same  time,  of  the  labors  of  my 
predecessors,  especially  those  of  Mr.  Stirling  and  M. 
Mignet,  wherever  they  have  thrown  light  on  the  path 
from  sources  not  within  my  reach. 

In  the  performance  of  the  task  I  have  been  in- 
sensibly led  into  a  much  greater  length  than  I  had 
originally  intended,  or  than,  I  fear,  will  be  altogether 
palatable  to  those  who  have  become  already  familiar 

with  the  narrative  in  the  writings  of  those  who  have 
i* 


vi  ADVERTISEMENT. 

preceded  me.  To  such  readers  I  cannot,  indeed, 
flatter  myself  that  I  have  given  any  information  of 
importance  beyond  what  they  may  have  acquired  from 
these  more  extended  and  elaborate  works.  But  by 
far  the  larger  part  of  readers  in  our  community  have 
probably  had  no  access  to  these  works ;  and  I  may  ex- 
press the  hope  that  I  have  executed  the  task  in  such  a 
manner  as  to  satisfy  any  curiosity  which,  after  perusing 
the  narrative  of  the  illustrious  Scottish  historian,  they 
may  naturally  feel  respecting  the  closing  scenes  in  the 
life  of  the  great  emperor. 

WILLIAM  H.  PRESCOTT. 
BOSTON,  November  10, 1856. 


TO 

THE    KING. 

SIR, — 

I  PRESUME  to  lay  before  your  Majesty  the  history 
of  a  period  which,  if  the  abilities  of  the  writer  were 
equal  to  the  dignity  of  the  subject,  would  not  be  un- 
worthy the  attention  of  a  monarch  who  is  no  less  a 
judge  than  a  patron  of  literary  merit. 

History  claims  it  as  her  prerogative  to  offer  instruc- 
tion to  kings,  as  well  as  to  their  people.  What  reflec- 
tions the  reign  of  the  Emperor  Charles  the  Fifth  may 
suggest  to  your  Majesty,  it  becomes  not  me  to  conjec- 
ture. But  your  subjects  cannot  observe  the  various 
calamities  which  that  monarch's  ambition  to  be  dis- 
tinguished as  a  conqueror  brought  upon  his  domin- 
ions, without  recollecting  the  felicity  of  their  own 
times,  and  looking  up  with  gratitude  to  their  sove- 
reign, who,  during  the  fervor  of  youth,  and  amidst  the 


viii  DEDICA  TION. 

career  of  victory,  possessed  such  self-command,  and 
maturity  of  judgment,  as  to  set  bounds  to  his  own 
triumphs,  and  prefer  the  blessings  of  peace  to  the 
splendor  of  military  glory. 

Posterity  will  not  only  celebrate  the  wisdom  of 
your  Majesty's  choice,  but  will  enumerate  the  many 
virtues  which  render  your  reign  conspicuous  for  a 
sacred  regard  to  all  the  duties  incumbent  on  the 
sovereign  of  a  free  people. 

It  is  our  happiness  to  feel  the  influence  of  these 
virtues,  and  to  live  under  the  dominion  of  a  prince 
who  delights  more  in  promoting  the  public  welfare 
than  in  receiving  the  just  praise  of  his  royal  benefi- 
cence. 

I  am,  Sir, 

Your  Majesty's  most  faithful  subject, 
And  dutiful  servant, 

WILLIAM    ROBERTSON. 


PREFACE. 


No  period  in  the  history  of  one's  own  country  can 
be  considered  as  altogether  uninteresting.  Such  trans- 
actions as  tend  to  illustrate  the  progress  of  its  consti- 
tution, laws,  or  manners  merit  the  utmost  attention. 
Even  remote  and  minute  events  are  objects  of  a  curi- 
osity, which  being  natural  to  the  human  mind,  the 
gratification  of  it  is  attended  with  pleasure. 

But  with  respect  to  the  history  of  foreign  states,  we 
must  set  other  bounds  to  our  desire  of  information. 
The  universal  progress  of  science  during  the  last  two 
centuries,  the  art  of  printing,  and  other  obvious 
causes,  have  filled  Europe  with  such  a  multiplicity  of 
histories,  and  with  such  vast  collections  of  historical 
materials,  that  the  term  of  human  life  is  too  short  for 
the  study  or  even  the  perusal  of  them.  It  is  necessary, 
then,  not  only  for  those  who  are  called  to  conduct  the 
affairs  of  nations,  but  for  such  as  inquire  and  reason 
concerning  them,  to  remain  satisfied  with  a  general 
knowledge  of  distant  events,  and  to  confine  their  study 
of  history  in  detail  chiefly  to  that  period  in  which,  the 

I*  (ix) 


x  PREFACE. 

several  states  of  Europe  having  become  intimately  con- 
nected, the  operations  of  one  power  are  so  felt  by  all 
as  to  influence  their  councils  and  to  regulate  their 
measures. 

Some  boundary,  then,  ought  to  be  fixed,  in  order  to 
separate  these  periods.  An  era  should  be  pointed  out, 
prior  to  which  each  country,  little  connected  with 
those  around  it,  may  trace  its  own  history  apart;  after 
which,  the  transactions  of  every  considerable  nation 
in  Europe  become  interesting  and  instructive  to  all. 
With  this  intention  I  undertook  to  write  the  History 
of  the  Emperor  Charles  the  Fifth.  It  was  during  his 
administration  that  the  powers  of  Europe  were  formed 
into  one  great  political  system,  in  which  each  took  a 
station,  wherein  it  has  since  remained  with  less  varia- 
tion fhan  could  have  been  expected  after  the  shocks 
occasioned  by  so  many  internal  revolutions  and  so 
many  foreign  wars.  The  great  events  which  happened 
then  have  not  hitherto  spent  their  force.  The  political 
principles  and  maxims  then  established  still  continue 
to  operate.  The  ideas  concerning  the  balance  of 
power  then  introduced,  or  rendered  general,  still  in- 
fluence the  councils  of  nations. 

The  age  of  Charles  the  Fifth  may  therefore  be  con- 
sidered as  the  period  at  which  the  political  state  of 
Europe  began  to  assume  a  new  form.  I  have  endeav- 
ored to  render  my  account  of  it  an  introduction  to  the 


PREFACE.  xi 

history  of  Europe  subsequent  to  his  reign.  While  his 
numerous  biographers  describe  his  personal  qualities 
and  actions,  while  the  historians  of  different  countries 
relate  occurrences  the  consequences  of  which  were 
local  or  transient,  it  hath  been  my  purpose  to  record 
only  those  great  transactions  in  his  reign,  the  effects 
of  which  were  universal  or  continue  to  be  permanent. 
As  my  readers  could  derive  little  instruction  from 
such  a  history  of  the  reign  of  Charles  the  Fifth  with- 
out some  information  concerning  the  state  of  Europe 
previous  to  the  sixteenth  century,  my  desire  of  sup- 
plying this  has  produced  a  preliminary  volume,*  in 
which  I  have  attempted  to  point  out  and  to  explain 
the  great  causes  and  events  to  whose  operation  all  the 
improvements  in  the  political  state  of  Europe,  from 
the  subversion  of  the  Roman  empire  to  the  beginning 
of  the  sixteenth  century,  must  be  ascribed.  I  have 
exhibited  a  view  of  the  progress  of  society  in  Europe, 
not  only  with  respect  to  interior  government,  laws, 
and  manners,  but  with  respect  to  the  command  of  the 
national  force  requisite  in  foreign  operations;  and  I 
have  described  the  political  constitution  of  the  prin- 
cipal states  in  Europe  at  the  time  when  Charles  the 
Fifth  began  his  reign. 

*  These  passages  in  the  text  refer  to  the  original  edition :  the 
additional  matter  incorporated  in  the  present  edition  has  required  a 
somewhat  different  arrangement  in  respect  to  the  division  of  the 
volumes. 


xii  PREFACE. 

In  this  part  of  my  work  I  have  been  led  into  several 
critical  disquisitions,  which  belong  more  properly  to 
the  province  of  the  lawyer  or  antiquary  than  to  that 
of  the  historian.  These  I  have  placed  at  the  end  of 
the  first  volume,  under  the  title  of  Proofs  and  Illus- 
trations.* Many  of  my  readers  will,  probably,  give 
little  attention  to  such  researches.  To  some,  they 
may  perhaps  appear  the  most  curious  and  interesting 
part  of  the  work.  I  have  carefully  pointed  out  the 
sources  from  which  I  have  derived  information,  and 
have  cited  the  writers  on  whose  authority  I  rely  with  a 
minute  exactness,  which  might  appear  to  border  upon 
ostentation,  if  it  were  possible  to  be  vain  of  having 
read  books,  many  of  which  nothing  but  the  duty  of 
examining  with  accuracy  whatever  I  laid  before  the 
public  could  have  induced  me  to  open.  As  my 
inquiries  conducted  me  often  into  paths  which  were 
obscure  or  little  frequented,  such  constant  references 
to  the  authors  who  have  been  my  guides  were  not  only 
necessary  for  authenticating  the  facts  which  are  the 
foundations  of  my  reasonings,  but  may  be  useful  in 
pointing  out  the  way  to  such  as  shall  hereafter  hold 
the  same  course,  and  in  enabling  them  to  carry  on 
their  researches  with  greater  facility  and  success. 

Every  intelligent  reader  will  observe  -one  omission 
in  my  work,  the  reason  of  which  it  is  necessary  to 

*  See  note  on  p.  xi. 


PREFACE.  xiii 

explain.  I  have  given  no  account  of  the  conquests 
of  Mexico  and  Peru,  or  of  the  establishment  of  the 
Spanish  colonies  in  the  continent  and  islands  of 
America.  The  history  of  these  events  I  originally 
intended  to  have  related  at  considerable  length.  But 
upon  a  nearer  and  more  attentive  consideration  of  this 
part  of  my  plan,  I  found  that  the  discovery  of  the 
New  World,  the  state  of  society  among  its  ancient 
inhabitants,  their  character,  manners,  and  arts,  the 
genius  of  the  European  settlements  in  its  various 
provinces,  together  with  the  influence  of  these  upon 
the  systems  of  policy  or  commerce  in  Europe,  were 
subjects  so  splendid  and  important  that  a  superficial 
view  of  them  could  afford  little  satisfaction ;  and,  on 
the  other  hand,  to  treat  of  them  as  extensively  as  they 
merited  must  produce  an  episode  disproportionate  to 
the  principal  work.  I  have  therefore  reserved  these 
for  a  separate  history;  which,  if  the  performance  now 
offered  to  the  public  shall  receive  its  approbation,  I 
purpose  to  undertake. 

Though,  by  omitting  such  considerable  but  detached 
articles  in  the  reign  of  Charles  the  Fifth,  I  have 
circumscribed  my  narration  within  more  narrow  limits, 
I  am  yet  persuaded,  from  this  view  of  the  intention 
and  nature  of  the  work  which  I  thought  it  necessary  to 
lay  before  my  readers,  that  the  plan  must  still  appear  to 
them  too  extensive,  and  the  undertaking  too  arduous. 
Charles. — VOL.  I.— u. 


xiv  PREFACE. 

I  have  often  felt  them  to  be  so.  But  my  conviction  of 
the  utility  of  such  a  history  prompted  me  to  persevere. 
With  what  success  I  have  executed  it,  the  public  must 
now  judge.  I  wait,  not  without  solicitude,  for  its 
decision,  to  which  I  shall  submit  with  a  respectful 
silence. 


CONTENTS    OF   VOL.   I. 


A    VIEW    OF    THE    PROGRESS    OF 
SOCIETY    IN    EUROPE. 

SECTION    I. 

VIEW  OF  THE  PROGRESS  OF  SOCIETY  IN  EUROPE  WITH  RE- 
SPECT TO  INTERIOR  GOVERNMENT,  LAWS,  AND  MANNERS. 

The  Effects  of  the  Roman  Power  on  the  State  of  Europe. — The 
Irruption  of  the  Barbarous  Nations. — Their  Settlements  in  the 
Countries  they  had  conquered. — Decay  of  the  Roman  Empire. 
— Desolation  occasioned  by  the  Barbarians.  —  Origin  of  the 
present  Political  System  of  Europe. — The  Feudal  System. — Its 
Effects  upon  the  Arts,  Literature,  and  Religion. — The  Crusades, 
and  their  Effects  upon  Society. — Growth  of  Municipal  Insti- 
tutions.—  Emancipation  of  the  Peasantry.  —  Beginning  of  a 
regular  Administration  of  Justice.  —  Trial  by  Combat.  —  Ap- 
peals.— Ecclesiastical  Courts. — Discovery  of  the  Code  of  Jus- 
tinian.— Chivalry. — Revival  of  Learning. — Influence  of  Com- 
merce.— Italians  the  First  Merchants  and  Bankers. — Rise  of 
Trade  and  Manufactures  among  the  Cities  of  the  Hanseatic 
League, — in  the  Netherlands, — in  England  .  .  .  1-89 

SECTION    II. 

VIEW  OF  THK  PROGRESS  OF  SOCIETY  IN  EUROPE  WITH  RE- 
SPECT TO  THE  COMMAND  OF  THE  NATIONAL  FORCE  REQUI- 
SITE IN  FOREIGN  OPERATIONS. 

Improved  State  of  Society  at  the  Beginning  of  the  Fifteenth  Cen- 
tury.— The  Concentration  of  Resources  in  European  States. — 

(xv) 


vi  CONTENTS. 

The  Power  of  Monrirchs ;  their  Revenues  and  Annies. — Affairs 
of  Different  States  at  first  entirely  Distinct. — Progress  of  Com- 
bination.— Loss  of  Continental  Territory  by  the  English. — 
Effects  upon  the  French  Monarchy. — Growth  of  Standing 
Armies,  and  of  the  Royal  Prerogative  under  Louis  XI. — His 
Example  imitated  in  England  and  in  Spain. — The  Heiress  of 
Burgundy. — Perfidious  Conduct  of  Louis  XI.  towards  her. — 
Her  Marriage  with  Maximilian,  Archduke  of  Austria. — Inva- 
sion of  Italy  by  Charles  VIII. — The  Balance  of  Power. — Use  of 
Infantry  in  Armies. — League  of  Cambray  against  Venice  90-129 


SECTION    III. 

VIEW  OF  THE  POLITICAL  CONSTITUTION  OF  THE  PRINCIPAL 
STATES  IN  EUROPE,  AT  THE  COMMENCEMENT  OF  THE  SIX- 
TEENTH CENTURY. 

Italy  at  the  Beginning  of  the  Sixteenth  Century. — The  Papal 
Power. — Alexander  VI.  and  Julius  II. — Defects  in  Ecclesias- 
tical Governments. — Venice  ;  its  Rise  and  Progress  ;  its  Naval 
Power  and  its  Commerce. — Florence. — Naples  and  Sicily. — 
Contest  for  its  Crown.— Duchy  of  Milan. — Ludovico  Sforza. — 
Spain  ;  conquered  by  the  Vandals  and  by  the  Moors  ;  gradually 
re-conquered  by  the  Christians. — Marriage  of  Ferdinand  and 
Isabella. — The  Royal  Prerogative. — Constitution  of  Aragon 
and  of  Castile. — Internal  Disorders. — "The  Holy  Brother- 
hood."—  France;  its  Constitution  and  Government.  —  The 
Power  of  its  Early  Kings. — Government  becomes  purely  Mon- 
archical, though  restrained  by  the  Nobles  and  the  Parliaments. 
— The  Germnn  Empire. — Power  of  the  Nobles  and  of  the 
Clergy. — Contests  between  the  Popes  and  the  Emperors. — • 
Decline  of  Imperial  Authority. — Total  Change  of  Government. 
— Maximilian. — The  Real  Power  and  Revenues  of  the  Em- 
perors, contrasted  with  their  Pretensions.  —  Complication  of 
Difficulties. — Origin  of  the  Turkish  Empire ;  its  Character. — 
The  Janizaries, — Solyman  .  .  .  .  -  .  .  130-203 

PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS 205-367 


CONTENTS. 


HISTORY    OF    CHARLES   V. 


BOOK  I. 

Birth  of  Charles  V. — His  Hereditary  Dominions.— Philip  and 
Joanna,  his  Parents. — Birth  of  Ferdinand,  his  Brother. — Death 
of  Isabella. — Philip's  Attempts  to  obtain  the  Government  of 
Castile. — The  Regent  Ferdinand  marries  a  Niece  of  the  French 
King  to  exclude  Philip  and  his  Daughter. — The  Castilian  No- 
bility declare  for  Philip. — Philip  and  Joanna  proclaimed. — 
Death  of  Philip. — Incapacity  of  Joanna. — Ferdinand  made 
Regent. — His  Acquisition  of  Territory. — His  Death. — Educa- 
tion of  Charles  V. — Cardinals  Ximenes  and  Adrian. — Charles 
acknowledged  King. — Ximenes  strengthens  the  Royal  Power; 
is  opposed  by  the  Nobles. — War  in  Navarre  and  in  Africa. — 
Peace  with  France. — Charles  visits  Spain. — His  Ingratitude 
towards  Ximenes. — Death  of  the  Latter. — Discontent  of  the 
Castilians. — Corruption  of  the  King's  Flemish  Favorites. — Re- 
ception of  Charles  in  Aragon. — Death  of  the  Emperor  Maxi- 
milian.— Charles  and  Francis  I.  Competitors  for  the  Empire. 
— Views  of  the  other  Reigning  Potentates. — Assembly  of  the 
Electors.  —  The  Crown  offered  to  Frederic  of  Saxony. —  He 
declines  in  Favor  of  Charles,  who  is  chosen. — Discontent  of 
the  Spaniards. — Insurrection  in  Valencia. — The  Cortes  of  Cas- 
tile summoned  to  meet  in  Galicia. — Charles  appoints  Regents, 
and  embarks  for  the  Low  Countries  ....  369-445 

BOOK  II. 

Rivalry  between  Charles  and  Francis  I.  for  the  Empire. — They 
negotiate  with  the  Pope,  the  Venetians,  and  Henry  VIII.  of 
England. — Character  of  the  latter. — Cardinal  Wolsey. — Charles 
visits  England. — Meeting  between  Henry  VIII.  and  Francis  I. 
— Coronation  of  Charles. — Solyman  the  Magnificent. — The 
Diet  convoked  at  Worms. — The  Reformation. — Sale  of  Indul- 
gences by  Leo  X. — Tetzel. — Luther. — Progress  of  his  Opinions. 


:viii  CONTENTS. 

— Is  summoned  to  Rome. — His  Appearance  before  the  Legate. 
— His  Appeals  to  a  General  Council. — Luther  questions  the 
Papal  Authority. — Reformation  in  Switzerland. — Excommu- 
nication of  Luther. — Reformation  in  Germany. — Causes  of  the 
Progress  of  the  Reformation. — The  Corruption  in  the  Roman 
Church. — Power  and  111  Conduct  of  the  Clergy. — Venality  of 
the  Roman  Court. —Effects  of  the  Invention  of  Printing. — Eras- 
mus.— The  Diet  at  Worms. — Edict  against  Luther. — He  is 
seized  and  confined  at  Wartburg. — His  Doctrines  condemned 
by  the  University  of  Paris,  and  controverted  by  Henry  VIII. 
of  England. — Henry  VIII.  favors  the  Emperor  Charles  against 
Francis  I. — Leo  X.  makes  a  Treaty  with  Charles. — Death  of 
Chievres. — Hostilities  in  Navarre  and  in  the  Low  Countries. — 
Siege  of  Mezieres.  —  Congress  at  Calais.  —  League  against 
France. — Hostilities  in  Italy. — Death  of  Leo  X. — Defeat  of 
the  French. — Henry  VIII.  declares  War  against  France. — 
Charles  visits  England. — Conquest  of  Rhodes  by  Solyman  446-544 


A   VIEW 


PROGRESS  OF  SOCIETY  IN  EUROPE, 

FROM  THE 

SUBVERSION  OF  THE  ROMAN  EMPIRE  TO  THE  BE- 
GINNING OF  THE   SIXTEENTH    CENTURY. 


(i) 


A  VIEW 


PROGRESS  OF  SOCIETY  IN  EUROPE, 

FROM   THE 

SUBVERSION  OF  THE  ROMAN  EMPIRE  TO  THE  BE- 
GINNING OF  THE  SIXTEENTH   CENTURY. 


SECTION   I. 

VIEW  OF  THE  PROGRESS  OF  SOCIETY  IN  EUROPE  WITH  RE- 
SPECT TO  INTERIOR  GOVERNMENT,   LAWS,  AND  MANNERS. 

The  Effects  of  the  Roman  Power  on  the  State  of  Europe. — The  Irrup- 
tion of  the  Barbarous  Nations. — Their  Settlements  in  the  Countries 
they  had  conquered. — Decay  of  the  Roman  Empire.— Desolation 
occasioned  by  the  Barbarians. — Origin  of  the  present  Political  Sys- 
tem of  Europe. — The  Feudal  System.— Its  Effects  upon  the  Arts, 
Literature,  and  Religion. — The  Crusades,  and  their  Effects  upon 
Society. — Growth  of  Municipal  Institutions. — Emancipation  of  the 
Peasantry. — Beginning  of  a  regular  Administration  of  Justice. — 
Trial  by  Combat. — Appeals. — Ecclesiastical  Courts. — Discovery  of 
the  Code  of  Justinian. — Chivalry. — Revival  of  Learning. — Influ- 
ence of  Commerce. — Italians  the  first  Merchants  and  Bankers. — 
Rise  of  Trade  and  Manufactures  among  the  Cities  of  the  Hanse- 
atic  League,— in  the  Netherlands, — in  England. 

Two  great  revolutions  have  happened  in  the  political 
state  and  in  the  manners  of  the  European  nations.  The 
first  was  occasioned  by  the  progress  of  the  Roman 
power ;  the  second  by  the  subversion  of  it.  When 

(3) 


4  A    VIEW  OF   THE 

the  spirit  of  conquest  led  the  armies  of  Rome  beyond 
the  Alps,  they  found  all  the  countries  which  they  in- 
vaded inhabited  by  people  whom  they  denominated 
barbarians,  but  who  were  nevertheless  brave  and  inde- 
pendent. These  defended  their  ancient  possessions 
with  obstinate  valor.  It  was  by  the  superiority  of  their 
discipline,  rather  than  that  of  their  courage,  that  the 
Romans  gained  any  advantage  over  them.  A  single 
battle  did  not,  as  among  the  effeminate  inhabitants 
of  Asia,  decide  the  fate  of  a  state.  The  vanquished 
people  resumed  their  arms  with  fresh  spirit,  and  their 
undisciplined  valor,  animated  by  the  love  of  liberty, 
supplied  the  want  of  conduct  as  well  as  of  union. 
During  those  long  and  fierce  struggles  for  dominion 
or  independence,  the  countries  of  Europe  were  suc- 
cessively laid  waste,  a  great  part  of  their  inhabitants 
perished  in  the  field,  many  were  carried  into  slavery, 
and  a  feeble  remnant,  incapable  of  farther  resistance, 
submitted  to  the  Roman  power. 

The  Romans,  having  thus  desolated  Europe,  set  them- 
selves to  civilize  it.  The  form  of  government  which 
they  established  in  the  conquered  provinces,  though 
severe,  was  regular,  and  preserved  public  tranquillity. 
As  a  consolation  for  the  loss  of  liberty,  they  commu- 
nicated their  arts,  sciences,  language,  and  manners  to 
their  new  subjects.  Europe  began  to  breathe,  and  to 
recover  strength  after  the  calamities  which  it  had  un- 
dergone ;  agriculture  was  encouraged ;  population  in- 
creased ;  the  ruined  cities  were  rebuilt ;  new  towns 
were  founded  ;  an  appearance  of  prosperity  succeeded, 
and  repaired  in  some  degree,  the  havoc  of  war. 

This  state,  however,  was  far  from  being  happy  or 


STATE    OF  EUROPE.  5 

favorable  to  the  improvement  of  the  human  mind. 
The  vanquished  nations  were  disarmed  by  their  con- 
querors and  overawed  by  soldiers  kept  in  pay  to  restrain 
them.  They  were  given  up  as  a  prey  to  rapacious  gov- 
ernors, who  plundered  them  with  impunity,  and  were 
drained  of  their  wealth  by  exorbitant  taxes,  levied  with 
so  little  attention  to  the  situation  of  the  provinces  that 
the  impositions  were  often  increased  in  proportion  to 
their  inability  to  support  them.  They  were  deprived 
of  their  most  enterprising  citizens,  who  resorted  to  a 
distant  capital  in  quest  of  preferment  or  of  riches ;  and 
were  accustomed  in  all  their  actions  to  look  up  to  a 
superior  and  tamely  to  receive  his  commands.  Under 
so  many  depressing  circumstances,  it  was  hardly  possi- 
ble that  they  could  retain  vigor  or  generosity  of  mind. 
The  martial  and  independent  spirit  which  had  distin- 
guished their  ancestors  became  in  a  great  measure  ex- 
tinct among  all  the  people  subjected  to  the  Roman 
yoke ;  they  lost  not  only  the  habit  but  even  the  capa- 
city of  deciding  for  themselves  or  of  acting  from  the 
impulse  of  their  own  minds ;  and  the  dominion  of  the 
Romans,  like  that  of  all  great  empires,  degraded  and 
debased  the  human  species.1 

A  society  in  such  a  state  could  not  subsist  long. 
There  were  defects  in  the  Roman  government,  even  in 
its  most  perfect  form,  which  threatened  its  dissolution. 
Time  ripened  these  original  seeds  of  corruption,  and 
gave  birth  to  many  new  disorders.  A  constitution  un- 
sound and  worn  out  must  have  fallen  into  pieces  of 
itself,  without  any  external  shock.  The  violent  irrup- 
tion of  the  Goths,  Vandals,  Huns,  and  other  barbarians 

1  Note  I. 
I* 


6  A    VIEW  OF   THE 

hastened  this  event,  and  precipitated  the  downfall  of 
the  empire.  New  nations  seemed  to  arise,  and  to  rush 
from  unknown  regions,  in  order  to  take  vengeance  on 
the  Romans  for  the  calamities  which  they  had  inflicted 
on  mankind.  These  fierce  tribes  either  inhabited  the 
various  provinces  in  Germany  which  had  never  been 
subdued  by  the  Romans,  or  were  scattered  over  those 
vast  countries  in  the  north  of  Europe  and  northwest  of 
Asia  which  are  now  occupied  by  the  Danes,  the  Swedes, 
the  Poles,  the  subjects  of  the  Russian  empire,  and  the 
Tartars.  Their  condition  and  transactions  previous  to 
their  invasion  of  the  empire  are  but  little  known. 
Almost  all  our  information  with  respect  to  these  is 
derived  from  the  Romans ;  and,  as  they  did  not  pene- 
trate far  into  countries  which  were  at  that  time  uncul- 
tivated and  uninviting,  the  accounts  of  their  original 
state  given  by  the  Roman  historians  are  extremely  im- 
perfect. The  rude  inhabitants  themselves,  destitute  of 
science  as  well  as  of  records,  and  without  leisure  or 
curiosity  to  inquire  into  remote  events,  retained,  per- 
haps, some  indistinct  memory  of  recent  occurrences, 
but  beyond  these  all  was  buried  in  oblivion  or  involved 
in  darkness  and  in  fable.2 

The  prodigious  swarms  which  poured  in  upon  the 
empire  from  the  beginning  of  the  fourth  century  to 
the  final  extinction  of  the  Roman  power  have  given 
rise  to  an  opinion  that  the  countries  whence  they  issued 
were  crowded  with  inhabitants;  and  various  theories 
have  been  formed  to  account  for  such  an. extraordinary 
degree  of  population  as  hath  procured  these  countries 
the  appellation  of  "  the  storehouse  of  nations."  But  if 
*  Note  II. 


STATE    OF  EUROPE.  7 

we  consider  that  the  countries  possessed  by  the  people 
who  invaded  the  empire  were  of  vast  extent,  that  a 
great  part  of  these  was  covered  with  woods  and 
marshes,  that  some  of  the  most  considerable  of  the 
barbarous  nations  subsisted  entirely  by  hunting  or 
pasturage,  in  both  which  states  of  society  large  tracts 
of  land  are  required  for  maintaining  a  few  inhabitants, 
and  that  all  of  them  were  strangers  to  the  arts  and 
industry,  without  which  population  cannot  increase  to 
any  great  degree,  we  must  conclude  that  these  coun- 
tries could  not  be  so  populous  in  ancient  times  as 
they  are  in  the  present,  when  they  still  continue  to 
be  less  peopled  than  any  other  part  of  Europe  or  of 
Asia. 

But  the  same  circumstances  that  prevented  the  bar- 
barous nations  from  becoming  populous  contributed  to 
inspire,  or  to  strengthen,  the  martial  spirit  by  which 
they  were  distinguished.  Inured  by  the  rigor  of  their 
climate,  or  the  poverty  of  their  soil,  to  hardships 
which  rendered  their  bodies  firm  and  their  minds 
vigorous,  accustomed  to  a  course  of  life  which  was  a 
continual  preparation  for  action,  and  disdaining  every 
occupation  but  that  of  war  or  of  hunting,  they  under- 
took and  prosecuted  their  military  enterprises  with  an 
ardor  and  impetuosity  of  which  men  softened  by  the 
refinements  of  more  polished  times  can  scarcely  form 
any  idea.3 

Their  first  inroad's  into  the  empire  proceeded  rather 
from  the  love  of  plunder  than  from  the  desire  of  new 
settlements.  Roused  to  arms  by  some  enterprising  or 
popular  leader,  they  sallied  out  of  their  forests,  broke 

3  Note  III. 


8  A   VIEW  OF   THE 

in  upon  the  frontier  provinces  with  irresistible  violence, 
put  all  who  opposed  them  to  the  sword,  carried  off  the 
most  valuable  effects  of  the  inhabitants,  dragged  along 
multitudes  of  captives  in  chains,  wasted  all  before  them 
with  fire  or  sword,  and  returned  in  triumph  to  their 
wilds  and  fastnesses.  Their  success,  together  with  the 
accounts  which  they  gave  of  the  unknown  conveniences 
and  luxuries  that  abounded  in  countries  better  culti- 
vated or  blessed  with  a  milder  climate  than  their  own, 
excited  new  adventurers  and  exposed  the  frontier  to 
new  devastations. 

When  nothing  was  left  to  plunder  in  the  adjacent 
provinces,  ravaged  by  frequent  excursions,  they  marched 
farther  from  home,  and,  finding  it  difficult  or  dangerous 
to  return,  they  began  to  settle  in  the  countries  which 
they  had  subdued.  The  sudden  and  short  excursions 
in  quest  of  booty,  which  had  alarmed  and  disquieted 
the  empire,  ceased ;  a  more  dreadful  calamity  im- 
pended. Great  bodies  of  armed  men,  with  their  wives 
and  children  and  slaves  and  flocks,  issued  forth,  like 
regular  colonies,  in  quest  of  new  settlements.  People 
who  had  no  cities,  and  seldom  any  fixed  habitation, 
were  so  little  attached  to  their  native,  soil  that  they  mi- 
grated without  reluctance  from  one  place  to  another. 
New  adventurers  followed  them.  The  lands  which  they 
deserted  were  occupied  by  more  remote  tribes  of  bar- 
barians. These,  in  their  turn,  pushed  forward  into 
more  fertile  countries,  and,  like  a  torrent  continually 
increasing,  rolled  on,  and  swept  every  thing  before 
them.  In  less  than  two  centuries  from  their  first  irrup- 
tion, barbarians  of  various  names  and  lineage  plundered 
and  took  possession  of  Thrace,  Pannonia,  Gaul,  Spain, 


STATE    OF  EUROPE.  9 

Africa,  and  at  last  of  Italy,  and  Rome  itself.  The  vast 
fabric  of  the  Roman  power,  which  it  had  been  the  work 
of  ages  to  perfect,  was  in  that  short  period  overturned 
from  the  foundation. 

Many  concurring  causes  prepared  the  way  for  this 
great  revolution,  and  insured  success  to  the  nations 
which  invaded  the  empire.  The  Roman  common- 
wealth had  conquered  the  world  by  the  wisdom  of  its 
civil  maxims  and  the  rigor  of  its  military  discipline. 
But  under  the  emperors  the  former  were  forgotten  or 
despised,  and  the  latter  was  gradually  relaxed.  The 
armies  of  the  empire  in  the  fourth  and  fifth  centuries 
bore  scarcely  any  resemblance  to  those  invincible  le- 
gions which  had  been  victorious  wherever  they  marched. 
Instead  of  freemen  who  voluntarily  took  arms  from  the 
love  of  glory  or  of  their  country,  provincials  and  bar- 
barians were  bribed  or  forced  into  service.  These  were 
too  feeble,  or  too  proud,  to  submit  to  the  fatigue  of 
military  duty.  They  even  complained  of  the  weight 
of  their  defensive  armor  as  intolerable,  and  laid  it 
aside.  Infantry,  from  which  the  armies  of  ancient 
Rome  derived  their  vigor  and  stability,  fell  into  con- 
tempt; the  effeminate  and  undisciplined  soldiers  of 
later  times  could  hardly  be  brought  to  venture  into  the 
field  but  on  horseback.  These  wretched  troops,  how- 
ever, were  the  only  guardians  of  the  empire.  The 
jealousy  of  despotism  had  deprived  the  people  of  the 
use  of  arms ;  and  subjects  oppressed  and  rendered  in- 
capable of  defending  themselves  had  neither  spirit  nor 
inclination  to  resist  their  invaders,  from  whom  they 
had  little  to  fear,  because  their  condition  could  hardly 
be  rendered  more  unhappy.  At  the  same  time  that  the 

A* 


I0  A    VIEW  OF   THE 

martial  spirit  became  extinct,  the  revenues  of  the  em- 
pire gradually  diminished.  The  taste  for  the  luxuries 
of  the  East  increased  to  such  a  pitch  in  the  imperial 
court  that  great  sums  were  carried  into  India,  from 
which,  in  the  channel  of  commerce,  money  never  re- 
turns. By  the  large  subsidies  paid  to  the  barbarous 
nations,  a  still  greater  quantity  of  specie  was  withdrawn 
from  circulation.  The  frontier  provinces,  wasted  by 
frequent  incursions,  became  unable  to  pay  the  custom- 
ary tribute ;  and  the  wealth  of  the  world,  which  had 
long  centred  in  the  capital  of  the  empire,  ceased  to 
flow  thither  in  the  same  abundance,  or  was  diverted 
into  other,  channels.  The  limits  of  the  empire  con- 
tinued to  be  as  extensive  as  ever,  while  the  spirit  requi- 
site for  its  defence  declined,  and  its  resources  were 
exhausted.  A  vast  body,  languid  and  almost  unani- 
mated,  became  incapable  of  any  effort  to  save  itself, 
and  was  easily  overpowered.  The  emperors,  who  had 
the  absolute  direction  of  this  disordered  system,  sunk 
in  the  softness  of  Eastern  luxury,  shut  up  within  the 
walls  of  a  palace,  ignorant  of  war,  unacquainted  with 
affairs,  and  governed  entirely  by  women  and  eunuchs, 
or  by  ministers  equally  effeminate,  trembled  at  the 
approach  of  danger,  and,  under  circumstances  which 
called  for  the  utmost  vigor  in  council  as  well  as  in 
action,  discovered  all  the  impotent  irresolution  of  fear 
and  of  folly. 

In  every  respect  the  condition  of  the  barbarous  na- 
tions was  the  reverse  of  that  of  the  Romans.  Among 
the  former  the  martial  spirit  was  in  full  vigor ;  their 
leaders  were  hardy  and  enterprising ;  the  arts  which 
had  enervated  the  Romans  were  unknown ;  and  such 


STATE    OF  EUROPE  u 

was  the  nature  of  their  military  institutions  that  they 
brought  forces  into  the  field  without  any  trouble,  and 
supported  them  at  little  expense.  The  mercenary  and 
effeminate  troops  stationed  on  the  frontier,  astonished 
at  their  fierceness,  either  fled  at  their  approach  or  were 
routed  on  the  first  onset.  The  feeble  expedient  to 
which  the  emperors  had  recourse,  of  taking  large 
bodies  of  the  barbarians  into  pay  and  of  employing 
them  to  repel  new  invaders,  instead  of  retarding, 
hastened  the  destruction  of  the  empire.  These  mer- 
cenaries soon  turned  their  arms  against  their  masters, 
and  with  greater  advantage  than  ever;  for  by  serving 
in  the  Roman  armies  they  had  acquired  all  the  disci- 
pline, or  skill  in  war,  which  the  Romans  still  retained; 
and  upon  adding  these  to  their  native  ferocity  they 
became  altogether  irresistible. 

But  though,  from  these  and  many  other  causes,  the 
progress  and  conquests  of  the  nations  which  overran 
the  empire  became  so  extremely  rapid,  they  were 
accompanied  with  horrible  devastations  and  an  in- 
credible destruction  of  the  human  species.  Civilized 
nations,  which  take  arms  upon  cool  reflection,  from 
motives  of  policy  or  prudence,  with  a  view  to  guard 
against  some  distant  danger  or  to  prevent  some  remote 
contingency,  carry  on  their  hostilities  with  so  little 
rancor  or  animosity  that  war  among  them  is  disarmed 
of  half  its  terrors.  Barbarians  are  strangers  to  such 
refinements.  They  rush  into  war  with  impetuosity  and 
prosecute  it  with  violence.  Their  sole  object  is  to 
make  their  enemies  fael  the  weight  of  their  vengeance; 
nor  does  their  rage  subside  until  it  be  satiated  with 
inflicting  on  them  every  possible  calamity.  It  is  with 


12  A   VIEW  OF  THE 

such  a  spirit  that  the  savage  tribes  in  America  carry 
on  their  petty  wars.  It  was  with  the  same  spirit  that 
the  more  powerful  and  no  less  fierce  barbarians  in  the 
north  of  Europe  and  of  Asia  fell  upon  the  Roman 
empire. 

Wherever  they  marched,  their  route  was  marked 
with  blood.  They  ravaged  or  destroyed  all  around 
them.  They  made  no  distinction  between  what  was 
sacred  and  what  was  profane.  They  respected  no  age, 
or  sex,  or  rank.  What  escaped  the  fury  of  the  first 
inundation  perished  in  those  which  followed  it.  The 
most  fertile  and  populous  provinces  were  converted 
into  deserts,  in  which  were  scattered  the  ruins  of  vil- 
lages and  cities  that  afforded  shelter  to  a  few  miserable 
inhabitants  whom  chance  had  preserved,  or  the  sword 
of  the  enemy,  wearied  with  destroying,  had  spared. 
The  conquerors  who  first  settled  in  the  countries  which 
they  had  wasted  were  expelled  or  exterminated  by  new 
invaders,  who,  coming  from  regions  farther  removed 
from  the  civilized  parts  of  the  world,  were  still  more 
fierce  and  rapacious.  This  brought  fresh  calamities 
upon  mankind,  which  did  not  cease  until  the  North, 
by  pouring  forth  successive  swarms,  was  drained  of 
people  and  could  no  longer  furnish  instruments  of 
destruction.  Famine  and  pestilence,  which  always 
march  in  the  train  of  war  when  it  ravages  with  such 
inconsiderate  cruelty,  raged  in  every  part  of  Europe 
and  completed  its  sufferings.  If  a  man  were  called  to 
fix  upon  the  period  in  the  history  of  the  world  during 
which  the  condition  of  the  human  race  was  most  ca- 
lamitous and  afflicted,  he  would  without  hesitation  name 
that  which  elapsed  from  the  death  of  Theodosius  the 


STATE    OF  EUROPE.  13 

Great  to  the  establishment  of  the  Lombards  in  Italy.4 
The  contemporary  authors  who  beheld  that  scene  of 
desolation  labor  and  are  at  a  loss  for  expressions  to 
describe  the  horror  of  it.  The  scourge  of  God,  The 
destroyer  of  nations,  are  the  dreadful  epithets  by  which 
they  distinguished  the  most  noted  of  the  barbarous 
leaders ;  and  they  compare  the  ruin  which  they  had 
brought  on  the  world  to  the  havoc  occasioned  by 
earthquakes,  conflagrations,  or  deluges,  the  most  for- 
midable and  fatal  calamities  which  the  imagination  of 
man  can  conceive. 

But  no  expressions  can  convey  so  perfect  an  idea  of 
the  destructive  progress  of  the  barbarians  as  that  which 
must  strike  an  attentive  observer  when  he  contemplates 
the  total  change  which  he  will  discover  in  the  state  of 
Europe  after  it  began  to  recover  some  degree  of  tran- 
quillity, towards  the  close  of  the  sixth  century.  The 
Saxons  were  by  that  time  masters  of  the  southern  and 
more  fertile  provinces  of  Britain ;  the  Franks,  of  Gaul ; 
the  Huns,  of  Pannonia ;  the  Goths,  of  Spain ;  the 
Goths  and  Lombards,  of  Italy  and  the  adjacent  prov- 
inces. Very  faint  vestiges  of  the  Roman  policy,  juris- 
prudence, arts,  or  literature  remained.  New  forms  of 
government,  new  laws,  new  manners,  new  dresses,  new 
languages,  and  new  names  of  men  and  countries  were 
everywhere  introduced.  To  make  a  great  or  sudden 
alteration  with  respect  to  any  of  these,  unless  where 
the  ancient  inhabitants  of  a  country  have  been  almost 
totally  exterminated,  has  proved  an  undertaking  beyond 

4  Theodosius  died  A.D.  395 ;  the  reign  of  Alboinus  in  Lombardy 
began  A.D.  571 :  so  that  this  period  was  one  hundred  and  seventy-six 
years. 

Charles.— VOL.  I.  2 


I4  A    VIEW  OF  THE 

the  power  of  the  greatest  conquerors.5  The  great  change 
which  the  settlement  of  the  barbarous  nations  occa- 
sioned in  the  state  of  Europe  may,  therefore,  be  con- 
sidered as  a  more  decisive  proof,  than  even  the  testi- 
mony of  contemporary  historians,  of  the  destructive 
violence  with  which  these  invaders  carried  on  their 
conquests,  and  of  the  havoc  which  they  had  made 
from  one  extremity  of  this  quarter  of  the  globe  to  the 
other.6 

In  the  obscurity  of  the  chaos  occasioned  by  this 
general  wreck  of  nations,  we  must  search  for  the  seeds 
of  order,  and  endeavor  to  discover  the  first  rudiments 
of  the  policy  and  laws  now  established  in  Europe.  To 
this  source  the  historians  of  its  different  kingdoms  have 
attempted,  though  with  less  attention  and  industry  than 
the  importance  of  the  inquiry  merits,  to  trace  back  the 
institutions  and  customs  peculiar  to  their  countrymen. 
It  is  not  my  province  to  give  a  minute  detail  of  the 
progress  of  government  and  manners  in  each  particular 
nation  whose  transactions  are  the  object  of  the  follow- 
ing history.  But  in  order  to  exhibit  a  just  view  of  the 
state  of  Europe  at  the  opening  of  the  sixteenth  century 
it  is  necessary  to  look  back,  and  to  contemplate  the 
condition  of  the  Northern  nations  upon  their  first  set- 
tlement in  those  countries  which  they  occupied.  It  is 
necessary  to  mark  the  great  steps  by  which  they  ad- 
vanced from  barbarism  to  refinement,  and  to  point  out 
those  general  principles  and  events  which,  by  their 
uniform  as  well  as  extensive  operation,  conducted  all 
of  them  to  that  degree  of  improvement  in  policy  and 

5  Note  IV.  6  Note  V. 


STATE    OF  EUROPE.  15 

in  manners  which  they  had  attained  at  the  period  when 
Charles  V.  began  his  reign. 

When  nations  subject  to  despotic  government  make 
conquests,  these  serve  only  to  extend  the  dominion  and 
the  power  of  their  master.  But  armies  composed  of 
freemen  conquer  for  themselves,  not  for  their  leaders. 
The  people  who  overturned  the  Roman  empire  and 
settled  in  its  various  provinces  were  of  the  latter  class. 
Not  only  the  different  nations  that  issued  from  the 
north  of  Europe,  which  has  always  been  considered 
as  the  seat  of  liberty,  but  the  Huns  and  Alans,  who 
inhabited  part  of  those  countries  which  have  been 
marked  out  as  the  peculiar  region  of  servitude,7  en- 
joyed freedom  and  independence  in  such  a  high  degree 
as  seems  to  be  scarcely  compatible  with  a  state  of  social 
union  or  with  the  subordination  necessary  to  maintain 
it.  They  followed  the  chieftain  who  led  them  forth  in 
quest  of  new  settlements,  not  by  constraint,  but  from 
choice;  not  as  soldiers  whom  he  could  order  to  march, 
but  as  volunteers  who  offered  to  accompany  him.8 
They  considered  their  conquests  as  a  common  property, 
in  which  all  had  a  title  to  share,  as  all  had  contributed 
to  acquire  them.9  In  what  manner  or  by  what  princi- 
ples they  divided  among  them  the  lands  which  they 
seized,  we  cannot  now  determine  with  any  certainty. 
There  is  no  nation  in  Europe  whose  records  reach 
back  to  this  remote  period;  and  there  is  little  informa- 
tion to  be  got  from  uninstructive  and  meagre  chronicles, 
compiled  by  writers  ignorant  of  the  true  end  and  un- 
acquainted with  the  proper  objects  of  history. 

7  De  1' Esprit  des  Loix,  liv.  xvii.  ch.  3. 

8  Note  VI.  9  Note  VII. 


1 6  A   VIEW  OF  THE 

This  new  division  of  property,  however,  together 
with  the  maxims  and  manners  to  which  it  gave  rise, 
gradually  introduced  a  species  of  government  formerly 
unknown.  This  singular  institution  is  now  distinguished 
by  the  name  of  fat  feudal  system;  and  though  the  bar- 
barous nations  which  framed  it  settled  in  their  new 
territories  at  different  times,  came  from  different  coun- 
tries, spoke  various  languages,  and  were  under  the 
command  of  separate  leaders,  the  feudal  policy  and 
laws  were  established,  with  little  variation,  in  every 
kingdom  of  Europe.  This  amazing  uniformity  hath 
induced  some  authors10  to  believe  that  all  these  na- 
tions, notwithstanding  so  many  apparent  circumstances 
of  distinction,  were  originally  the  same  people.  But  it 
may  be  ascribed  with  greater  probability  to  the  similar 
state  of  society  and  of  manners  to  which  they  were 
accustomed  in  their  native  countries,  and  to  the  similar 
situation  in  which  they  found  themselves  on  taking 
possession  of  their  new  domains. 

As  the  conquerors  of  Europe  had  their  acquisitions 
to  maintain,  not  only  against  such  of  the  ancient  in- 
habitants as  they  had  spared,  but  against  the  more 
formidable  inroads  of  new  invaders,  self-defence  was 
their  chief  care,  and  seems  to  have  been  the  chief 
object  of  their  first  institutions  and  policy.  Instead 
of  those  loose  associations  which,  though  they  scarcely 
diminished  their  personal  independence,  had  been 
sufficient  for  their  security  while  they  remained  in 
their  original  countries,  they  saw  the  necessity  of 
uniting  in  more  close  confederacy,  and  of  relinquish- 

10  Procop.  de  Bello  Vandal.,  ap.  Script.  Byz.,  edit.  Ven.,  vol.  i.  p. 
345- 


STATE    OF  EUROPE.  17 

ing  some  of  their  private  rights  in  order  to  attain  pub- 
lic safety.  Every  freeman,  upon  receiving  a  portion 
of  the  lands  which  were  divided,  bound  himself  to 
appear  in  arms  against  the  enemies  of  the  community. 
This  military  service  was  the  condition  upon  which  he 
received  and  held  his  lands;  and,  as  they  were  ex- 
empted from  every  other  burden,  that  tenure,  among 
a  warlike  people,  was  deemed  both  easy  and  honorable. 
The  king  or  general  who  led  them  to  conquest,  con- 
tinuing still  to  be  the  head  of  the  colony,  had,  of 
course,  the  largest  portion  allotted  to  him.  Having 
thus  acquired  the  means  of  rewarding  past  services,  as 
well  as  of  gaining  new  adherents,  he  parcelled  out  his 
lands  with  this  view,  binding  those  on  whom  they  were 
bestowed  to  resort  to  his  standard  with  a  number  of 
men  in  proportion  to  the  extent  of  the  territory  which 
they  received,  and  to  bear  arms  in  his  defence.  His 
chief  officers  imitated  the  example  of  the  sovereign, 
and,  in  distributing  portions  of  their  lands  among  their 
dependants,  annexed  the  same  condition  to  the  grant. 
Thus  a  feudal  kingdom  resembled  a  military  establish- 
ment rather  than  a  civil  institution.  The  victorious 
army,  cantoned  out  in  the  country  which  it  had  seized, 
continued  ranged  under  its  proper  officers  and  sub- 
ordinate to  military  command.  The  names  of  a  soldier 
and  of  a  freeman  were  synonymous."  Every  proprie- 
tor of  land,  girt  with  a  sword,  was  ready  to  march  at 
the  summons  of  his  superior  and  to  take  the  field 
against  the  common  enemy. 

But  though  the  feudal  policy  seems  to  be  so  admirably 
calculated  for  defence  against  the  assaults  of  any  foreign 

11  Du  Cange,  Glossar.,  voc.  Miles. 
2* 


1 8  A    VIEW  OF  THE 

power,  its  provisions  for  the  interior  order  and  tran- 
quillity of  society  were  extremely  defective.  The  prin- 
ciples of  disorder  and  corruption  are  discernible  in  that 
constitution  under  its  best  and  most  perfect  form.  They 
soon  unfolded  themselves,  and,  spreading  with  rapidity 
through  every  part  of  the  system,  produced  the  most 
fatal  effects.  The  bond  of  political  union  was  ex- 
tremely feeble ;  the  sources  of  anarchy  were  innumer- 
able. The  monarchical  and  aristocratical  parts  of  the 
constitution,  having  no  intermediate  power  to  balance 
them,  were  perpetually  at  variance  and  justling  with 
each  other.  The  powerful  vassals  of  the  crown  soon 
extorted  a  confirmation  for  life  of  those  grants  of  land 
which,  being  at  first  purely  gratuitous,  had  been  be- 
stowed only  during  pleasure.  Not  satisfied  with  this, 
they  prevailed  to  have  them  converted  into  hereditary 
possessions.  One  step  more  completed  their  usurpa- 
tions, and  rendered  them  unalienable.12  With  an  am- 
bition no  less  enterprising,  and  more  preposterous,  they 
appropriated  to  themselves  titles  of  honor,  as  well  as 
offices  of  power  or  trust.  These  personal  marks  of  dis- 
tinction, which  the  public  admiration  bestows  on  illus- 
trious merit,  or  which  the  public  confidence  confers  on 
extraordinary  abilities,  were  annexed  to  certain  families, 
and  transmitted  like  fiefs,  from  father  to 'son,  by  hered- 
itary right.  The  crown  vassals  having  thus  secured  the 
possession  of  their  lands  and  dignities,  the  nature  of 
the  feudal  institutions,  which,  though  founded  on  sub- 
ordination, verged  to  independence,  led  them  to  new 
and  still  more  dangerous  encroachments  on  the  pre- 
rogatives of  the  sovereign.  They  obtained  the  power 

»  Note  VIII. 


STATE    OF  EUROPE.  19 

of  supreme  jurisdiction,  both  civil  and  criminal,  within 
their  own  territories;  the  right  of  coining  money; 
together  with  the  privilege  of  carrying  on  war  against 
their  private  enemies  in  their  own  name  and  by  their 
own  authority.  The  ideas  of  political  subjection  were 
almost  entirely  lost,  and  frequently  scarce  any  appear- 
ance of  feudal  subordination  remained.  Nobles  who 
had  acquired  such  enormous  power  scorned  to  consider 
themselves  as  subjects.  They  aspired  openly  at  being 
independent ;  the  bonds  which  connected  the  principal 
members  of  the  constitution  with  the  crown  were  dis- 
solved. A  kingdom  considerable  in  name  and  in  ex- 
tent was  broken  into  as  many  separate  principalities  as 
it  contained  powerful  barons.  A  thousand  causes  of 
jealousy  and  discord  subsisted  among  them,  and  gave 
rise  to  as  many  wars.  Every  country  in  Europe,  wasted 
or  kept  in  continual  alarm  during  these  endless  contests, 
was  filled  with  castles  and  places  of  strength  erected  for 
the  security  of  the  inhabitants,  not  against  foreign  force, 
but  against  internal  hostilities.  A  universal  anarchy, 
destructive  in  a  great  measure  of  all  the  advantages 
which  men  expect  to  derive  from  society,  prevailed. 
The  people,  the  most  numerous  as  well  as  the  most 
useful  part  of  the  community,  were  either  reduced  to  a 
state  of  actual  servitude,  or  treated  with  the  same  inso- 
lence and  rigor  as  if  they  had  been  degraded  into  that 
wretched  condition.'3  The  king,  stripped  of  almost 
every  prerogative,  and  without  authority  to  enact  or  to 
execute  salutary  laws,  could  neither  protect  the  inno- 
cent nor  punish  the  guilty.  The  nobles,  superior  to 
all  restraint,  harassed  each  other  with  perpetual  wars, 

'3  Note  IX. 


20  A    VIEW  OF  THE 

oppressed  their  fellow-subjects,  and  humbled  or  insulted 
their  sovereign.  To  crown  all,  time  gradually  fixed 
and  rendered  venerable  this  pernicious  system,  which 
violence  had  established. 

Such  was  the  state  of  Europe  with  respect  to  the  in- 
terior administration  of  government  from  the  seventh 
to  the  eleventh  century.  All  the  external  operations 
of  its  various  states  during  this  period  were,  of  course, 
extremely  feeble.  A  kingdom  dismembered,  and  torn 
with  dissension,  without  any  common  interest  to  rouse 
or  any  common  head  to  conduct  its  force,  was  incapa- 
ble of  acting  with  vigor.  Almost  all  the  wars  in  Europe 
during  the  ages  which  I  have  mentioned  were  trifling, 
indecisive,  and  productive  of  no  considerable  event. 
They  resembled  the  short  incursions  of  pirates  or  ban- 
ditti, rather  than  the  steady  operations  of  a  regular 
army.  Every  baron,  at  the  head  of  his  vassals,  carried 
on  some  petty  enterprise  to  which  he  was  prompted  by 
his  own  ambition  or  revenge.  The  state  itself,  destitute 
of  union,  either  remained  altogether  inactive,  or,  if  it 
attempted  to  make  any  effort,  that  served  only  to  dis- 
cover its  impotence.  The  superior  genius  of  Charle- 
magne, it  is  true,  united  all  these  disjointed  and  dis- 
cordant members,  and  formed  them  again  into  one 
body,  restored  to  government  that  degree  of  activity 
which  distinguishes  his  reign  and  renders  the  trans- 
actions of  it  objects  not  only  of  attention,  but  of  admi- 
ration, to  more  enlightened  times.  But  this  state  of 
union  and  vigor,  not  being  natural  to  the  feudal  gov- 
ernment, was  of  short  duration.  Immediately  upon 
his  death,  the  spirit  which  animated  and  sustained  the 
vast  system  which  he  had  established  being  withdrawn, 


STATE    OF  EUROPE.  2I 

it  broke  into  pieces.  All  the  calamities  which  flow 
from  anarchy  and  discord,  returning  with  additional 
force,  afflicted  the  different  kingdoms  into  which  his 
empire  was  split.  From  that  time  to  the  eleventh  cen- 
tury, a  succession  of  uninteresting  events,  a  series  of 
wars  the  motives  as  well  as  the  consequences  of  which 
were  unimportant,  fill  and  deform  the  annals  of  all  the 
nations  in  Europe. 

To  these  pernicious  effects  of  the  feudal  anarchy  may 
be  added  its  fatal  influence  on  the  character  and  im- 
provement of  the  human  mind.  If  men  do  not  enjoy 
the  protection  of  regular  government,  together  with 
the  expectation  of  personal  security,  which  naturally 
flows  from  it,  they  never  attempt  to  make  progress  in 
science,  nor  aim  at  attaining  refinement  in  taste  or  in 
manners.  That  period  of  turbulence,  oppression,  and 
rapine  which  I  have  described  was  ill  suited  to  favor 
improvement  in  any  of  these.  In  less  than  a  century 
after  the  barbarous  nations  settled  in  their  new  con- 
quests, almost  all  the  effects  of  the  knowledge  and 
civility  which  the  Romans  had  spread  through  Europe 
disappeared.  Not  only  the  arts  of  elegance,  which 
minister  to  luxury  and  are  supported  by  it,  but  many 
of  the  useful  arts,  without  which  life  can  scarcely  be 
considered  as  comfortable,  were  neglected  or  lost. 
Literature,  science,  taste,  were  words  little  in  use  during 
the  ages  which  we  are  contemplating ;  or,  if  they  occur 
at  any  time,  eminence  in  them  is  ascribed  to  persons 
and  productions  so  contemptible  that  it  appears  their 
true  import  was  little  understood.  Persons  of  the 
highest  rank  and  in  the  most  eminent  stations  could 
not  read  or  write.  Many  of  the  clergy  did  not  under- 


22  A    VIEW  OF   THE 

stand  the  breviary  which  they  were  obliged  daily  to 
recite;  some  of  them  could  scarcely  read  it.14  The 
imemory  of  past  transactions  was  in  a  great  degree  lost, 
or  preserved  in  annals  filled  with  trifling  events  or 
legendary  tales.  Even  the  codes  of  laws  published  by 
the  several  nations  which  established  themselves  in  the 
different  countries  of  Europe  fell  into  disuse,  while  in 
their  place  customs  vague  and  capricious  were  substi- 
tuted. The  human  mind,  neglected,  uncultivated,  and 
depressed,  continued  in  the  most  profound  ignorance. 
Europe,  during  four  centuries,  produced  few  authors 
who  merit  to  be  read,  either  on  account  of  the  elegance 
of  their  composition  or  the  justness  and  novelty  of 
their  sentiments.  There  are  few  inventions  useful  or 
ornamental  to  society  of  which  that  long  period  can 
boast. 

Even  the  Christian  religion,  though  its  precepts  are 
delivered,  and  its  institutions  are  fixed  in  Scripture, 
with  a  precision  which  should  have  exempted  them 
from  being  misinterpreted  or  corrupted,  degenerated, 
during  those  ages  of  darkness,  into  an  illiberal  super- 
stition. The  barbarous  nations,  when  converted  to 
Christianity,  changed  the  object,  not  the  spirit,  of 
their  religious  worship.  They  endeavored  to  con- 
ciliate the  favor  of  the  true  God  by  means  not  unlike 
to  those  which  they  had  employed  in  order  to  appease 
their  false  deities.  Instead  of  aspiring  to  sanctity  and 
virtue,  which  alone  can  reifder  men  acceptable  to  the 
great  Author  of  order  and  of  excellence,  they  imagined 
that  they  satisfied  every  obligation  of  duty  by  a  scru- 
pulous observance  of  external  ceremonies.15  Religion, 

*  Note  X.  »s  Note  XI. 


STATE    OF  EUROPE.  23 

according  to  their  conceptions  of  it,  comprehended 
nothing  else ;  and  the  rites  by  which  they  persuaded 
themselves  that  they  could  gain  the  favor  of  Heaven 
were  of  such  a  nature  as  might  have  been  expected 
from  the  rude  ideas  of  the  ages  which  devised  and  in- 
troduced them.  They  were  either  so  unmeaning  as  to 
be  altogether  unworthy  of  the  Being  to  whose  honor 
they  were  consecrated,  or  so  absurd  as  to  be  a  disgrace 
to  reason  and  humanity.16  Charlemagne  in  France, 
and  Alfred  the  Great  in  England,  endeavored  to  dispel 
this  darkness,  and  gave  their  subjects  a  short  glimpse 
of  light  and  knowledge.  But  the  ignorance  of  the  age 
was  too  powerful  for  their  efforts  and  institutions.  The 
darkness  returned,  and  settled  over  Europe  more  thick 
and  heavy  than  before. 

As  the  inhabitants  of  Europe  during  these  centuries 
were  strangers  to  the  arts  which  embellish  a  polished 
age,  they  were  destitute  of  the  virtues  which  abound 
among  people  who  continue  in  a  simple  state.  Force 
of  mind,  a  sense  of  personal  dignity,  gallantry  in  en- 
terprise, invincible  perseverance  in  execution,  contempt 
of  danger  and  of  death,  are  the  characteristic  virtues 
of  uncivilized  nations.  But  these  are  all  the  offspring 
of  equality  and  independence,  both  which  the  feudal 
institutions  had  destroyed.  The  spirit  of  domination 
corrupted  the  nobles,  the  yoke  of  servitude  depressed 
the  people,  the  generous  sentiments  inspired  by  a  sense 
of  equality  were  extinguished,  and  hardly  any  thing 
remained  to  be  a  check  on  ferocity  and  violence. 
Human  society  is  in  its  most  corrupted  state  at  that 
period  when  men  have  lost  their  original  independence 

«6  Note  XII. 


24  A   VIEW  OF   THE 

and  simplicity  of  manners,  but  have  not  attained  that 
degree  of  refinement  which  introduces  a  sense  of  de- 
corum and  of  propriety  in  conduct,  as  a  restraint  on 
those  passions  which  lead  to  heinous  crimes.  Accord- 
ingly, a  greater  number  of  those  atrocious  actions 
which  fill  the  mind  of  man  with  astonishment  and  hor- 
ror occur  in  the  history  of  the  centuries  under  review 
than  in  that  of  any  period  of  the  same  extent  in  the 
annals  of  Europe.  If  we  open  the  history  of  Gregory 
of  Tours,  or  of  any  contemporary  author,  we  meet 
with  a  series  of  deeds  of  cruelty,  perfidy,  and  revenge 
so  wild  and  enormous  as  almost  to  exceed  belief. 

But,  according  to  the  observation  of  an  elegant  and 
profound  historian,17  there  is  an  ultimate  point  of  de- 
pression, as  well  as  of  exaltation,  from  which  human 
affairs  naturally  return  in  a  contrary  progress,  and  be- 
yond which  they  never  pass  either  in  their  advance- 
ment or  decline.  When  defects  either  in  the  form 
or  in  the  administration  of  government  occasion  such 
disorders  in  society  as  are  excessive  and  intolerable,  it 
becomes  the  common  interest  to  discover  and  to  apply 
such  remedies  as  will  most  effectually  remove  them. 
Slight  inconveniences  may  be  long  overlooked  or  en- 
dured ;  but  when  abuses  grow  to  a  certain  pitch  the 
society  must  go  to  ruin  or  must  attempt  to  reform 
them.  The  disorders  in  the  feudal  system,  together 
with  the  corruption  of  taste  and  manners  consequent 
upon  these,  which  had  gone  on  increasing  during  a 
long  course  of  years,  seemed  to  have  attained  their 
utmost  point  of  excess  towards  the  close  of  the  eleventh 
"century.  From  that  era  we  may  date  the  return  of 

'7  Hume's  History  of  England,  vol.  ii.  p.  441. 


STATE    OF  EUROPE.  25 

government  and  manners  in  a  contrary  direction,  and 
can  trace  a  succession  of  causes  and  events  which  con- 
tributed, some  with  a  nearer  and  more  conspicuous, 
others  with  a  more  remote  and  less  perceptible  influ- 
ence, to  abolish  confusion  and  barbarism,  and  to  intro- 
duce order,  regularity,  and  refinement. 

In  pointing  out  and  explaining  these  causes  and 
events,  it  is  not  necessary  to  observe  the  order  of  time 
with  a  chronological  accuracy:  it  is  of  more  impor- 
tance to  keep  in  view  their  mutual  connection  and 
dependence,  and  to  show  how  the  operation  of  one 
event  or  one  cause  prepared  the  way  for  another  and 
augmented  its  influence.  We  have  hitherto  been  con- 
templating the  progress  of  that  darkness  which  spread 
over  Europe,  from  its  first  approach,  to  the  period  of 
greatest  obscuration :  a  more  pleasant  exercise  begins 
here;  to  observe  the  first  dawnings  of  returning  light, 
to  mark  the  various  accessions  by  which  it  gradually 
increased  and  advanced  towards  the  full  splendor  of 
day. 

I.  The  crusades,  or  expeditions  in  order  to  rescue 
the  Holy  Land  out  of  the  hands  of  infidels,  seemed  to 
be  the  first  event  that  roused  Europe  from  the  lethargy 
in  which  it  had  been  long  sunk,  and  that  tended  to  in- 
troduce any  considerable  change  in  government  or  in 
manners.  It  is  natural  to  the  human  mind  to  view 
those  places  which  have  been  distinguished  by  being 
the  residence  of  any  illustrious  personage,  or  the  scene 
of  any  great  transaction,  with  some  degree  of  delight 
and  veneration.  To  this  principle  must  be  ascribed 
the  superstitious  devotion  with  which  Christians,  from 
the  earliest  ages  of  the  Church,  were  accustomed  to 
Charles. — VOL.  I. — u  3 


26  A   VIEW  OF  THE 

visit  that  country  which  the  Almighty  had  selected  as 
the  inheritance  of  his  favorite  people,  and  in  which 
the  Son  of  God  had  accomplished  the  redemption  of 
mankind.  As  this  distant  pilgrimage  could  not  be 
performed  without  considerable  expense,  fatigue,  and 
danger,  it  appeared  the  more  meritorious,  and  came  to 
be  considered  as  an  expiation  for  almost  every  crime. 
An  opinion  which  spread  with  rapidity  over  Europe 
about  the  close  of  the  tenth  and  beginning  of  the 
eleventh  century,  and  which  gained  universal  credit, 
wonderfully  augmented  the  number  of  credulous  pil- 
grims, and  increased  the  ardor  with  which  they  under- 
took this  useless  voyage.  The  thousand  years  mentioned 
by  St.  John18  were  supposed  to  be  accomplished,  and 
the  end  of  the  world  to  be  at  hand.  A  general  con- 
sternation seized  mankind ;  many  relinquished  their 
possessions,  and,  abandoning  their  friends  and  families, 
hurried  with  precipitation  to  the  Holy  Land,  where 
they  imagined  that  Christ  would  quickly  appear  to 
judge  the  world.19  While  Palestine  continued  subject 
to  the  Caliphs,  they  had  encouraged  the  resort  of  pil- 
grims to  Jerusalem,  and  considered  this  as  a  beneficial 
species  of  commerce,  which  brought  into  their  domin- 
ions gold  and  silver  and  carried  out  of  them  but  relics 
and  consecrated  trinkets.  But  the  Turks  having  con- 
quered Syria  about  the  middle  of  the  eleventh  century, 
pilgrims  were  exposed  to  outrages  of  every  kind  from 

18  Rev,  xx.  2,  3,  4. 

J9  Chronic.  Will.  Godelli,  ap.  Bouquet,  Recueil  des  Historians  de 
France,  torn.  x.  p.  262. — Vita  Abonis,  ibid.,  p.  332. — Chronic.  S.  Pan- 
taleonis,  ap.  Eccard.  Corp.  Scrip.  Medii  ^Evi,  vol.  i.  p.  909. — Anna- 
lista  Saxo,  ibid.,  p.  576. 


STATE    OF  EUROPE. 


27 


these  fierce  barbarians.20  This  change,  happening  pre- 
cisely at  the  juncture  when  the  panic  terror  which  I 
have  mentioned  rendered  pilgrimages  most  frequent, 
filled  Europe  with  alarm  and  indignation.  Every  per- 
son who  returned  from  Palestine  related  the  dangers 
which  he  had  encountered  in  visiting  the  holy  city, 
and  described  with  exaggeration  the  cruelty  and  vexa- 
tions of  the  Turks. 

When  the  minds  of  men  were  thus  prepared,  the 
zeal  of  a  fanatical  monk,  who  conceived  the  idea  of 
leading  all  the  forces  of  Christendom  against  the  in- 
fidels, and  of  driving  them  out  of  the  Holy  Land  by 
violence,  was  sufficient  to  give  a  beginning  to  that  wild 
enterprise.  Peter  the  Hermit,  for  that  was  the  name 
of  this  martial  apostle,  ran  from  province  to  province 
with  a  crucifix  in  his  hand,  exciting  princes  and  people 
to  this  holy  war,  and  wherever  he  came  kindled  the 
same  enthusiastic  ardor  for  it  with  which  he  himself 
was  animated.  The  Council  of  Placentia,  where  up- 
wards of  thirty  thousand  persons  were  assembled,  pro- 
nounced the  scheme  to  have  been  suggested  by  the 
immediate  inspiration  of  Heaven.  In  the  Council  of 
Clermont,  still  more  numerous,  as  soon  as  the  measure 
was  proposed,  all  cried  out  with  one  voice,  "It  is  the 
will  of  God."  Persons  of  all  ranks  catched  the  con- 
tagion ;  not  only  the  gallant  nobles  of  that  age,  with 
their  martial  followers,  whom  we  may  suppose  apt  to 
be  allured  by  the  boldness  of  a  romantic  enterprise, 
but  men  in  the  more  humble  and  pacific  stations  of 
life,  ecclesiastics  of  every  order,  and  even  women  and 

20  Jo.  Dan.  Schoepflini  de  sacris  Gallorum  in  Orientem  Expedi- 
tionibus,  p.  4,  Argent.,  1726,  410. 


28  A    VIEW  OF  THE 

children,  engaged  with  emulation  in  an  undertaking 
which  was  deemed  sacred  and  meritorious.  If  we 
may  believe  the  concurring  testimony  of  contemporary 
authors,  six  millions  of  persons  assumed  the  cross,21 
which  was  the  badge  that  distinguished  such  as  devoted 
themselves  to  this  holy  warfare.  All  Europe,  says  the 
princess  Anna  Comnena,  torn  up  from  the  foundation, 
seemed  ready  to  precipitate  itself  in  one  united  body 
upon  Asia.22  Nor  did  the  fumes  of  this  enthusiastic 
zeal  evaporate  at  once ;  the  frenzy  was  as  lasting  as  it 
was  extravagant.  During  two  centuries  Europe  seems 
to  have  had  no  object  but  to  recover,  or  keep  posses- 
sion of,  the  Holy  Land ;  and  through  that  period  vast 
armies  continued  to  march  thither.23 

The  first  efforts  of  valor,  animated  by  enthusiasm, 
were  irresistible :  part  of  the  lesser  Asia,  all  Syria,  and 
Palestine,  were  wrested  from  the  infidels ;  the  banner 
of  the  cross  was  displayed  on  Mount  Sion ;  Constanti- 
nople, the  capital  of  the  Christian  empire  in  the  East, 
was  afterwards  seized  by  a  body  of  those  adventurers 
who  had  taken  arms  against  the  Mahometans ;  and  an 
earl  of  Flanders  and  his  descendants  kept  possession 
of  the  imperial  throne  during  half  a  century.  But 
though  the  first  impression  of  the  crusaders  was  so 
unexpected  that  they  made  their  conquests  with  great 
ease,  they  found  infinite  difficulty  in  preserving  them. 
Establishments  so  distant  from  Europe,  surrounded  by 
warlike  nations  animated  with  fanatical  zeal  scarcely 

21  Fnlcherius  Carnotensis,  ap.  Bongarsii  Gesta  Dei  per  Francos, 
vol.  i.  p.  387,  edit.  Han.,  1611. 

33  Alexias,  lib.  x.,  ap.  Byz.  Script.,  vol.  xi.  p.  224. 
23  Note  XIII. 


STATE    OF  EUROPE. 


29 


inferior  to  that  of  the  crusaders  themselves,  were  per- 
petually in  danger  of  being  overturned.  Before  the 
expiration  of  the  thirteenth  century,  the  Christians 
were  driven  out  of  all  their  Asiatic  possessions,  in  ac- 
quiring of  which  incredible  numbers  of  men  had  per- 
ished and  immense  sums  of  money  had  been  wasted. 
The  only  common  enterprise  in  which  the  European 
nations  ever  engaged,  and  which  they  all  undertook 
with  equal  ardor,  remains  a  singular  monument  of 
human  folly. 

But  from  these  expeditions,  extravagant  as  they  were, 
beneficial  consequences  followed  which  had  neither 
been  foreseen  nor  expected.  In  their  progress  towards 
the  Holy  Land  the  followers  of  the  cross  marched 
through  countries  better  cultivated  and  more  civilized 
than  their  own.  Their  first  rendezvous  was  commonly 
in  Italy,  in  which  Venice,  Genoa,  Pisa,  and  other 
cities  had  begun  to  apply  themselves  to  commerce, 
and  had  made  considerable  advances  towards  wealth 
as  well  as  refinement.  They  embarked  there,  and, 
landing  in  Dalmatia,  pursued  their  route  by  land  to 
Constantinople.  Though  the  military  spirit  had  been 
long  extinct  in  the  Eastern  empire,  and  a  despotism  of 
the  worst  species  had  annihilated  almost  every  public 
virtue,  yet  Constantinople,  having  never  felt  the  de- 
structive rage  of  the  barbarous  nations,  was  the  greatest 
as  well  as  the  most  beautiful  city  in  Europe,  and  the 
only  one  in  which  there  remained  any  image  of  the 
ancient  elegance  in  manners  and  arts.  The  naval 
power  of  the  Eastern  empire  was  considerable.  Manu- 
factures of  the  most  curious  fabric  were  carried  on  in 
its  dominions.  Constantinople  was  the  chief  mart  in 
3* 


30  A   VIEW  OF  THE 

Europe  for  the  commodities  of  the  East  Indies.  Al- 
though the  Saracens  and  Turks  had  torn  from  the  em- 
pire many  of  its  richest  provinces  and  had  reduced  it 
within  very  narrow  bounds,  yet  great  wealth  flowed 
into  the  capital  from  these  various  sources,  which  not 
only  cherished  such  a  taste  for  magnificence,  but  kept 
alive  such  a  relish  for  the  sciences,  as  appears  consid- 
erable when  compared  with  what  was  known  in  other 
parts  of  Europe.  Even  in  Asia,  the  Europeans  who 
had  assumed  the  cross  found  the  remains  of  the  knowl- 
edge and  arts  which  the  example  and  encouragement 
of  the  Caliphs  had  diffused  through  their  empire.  Al- 
though the  attention  of  the  historians  of  the  crusades 
was  fixed  on  other  objects  than  the  state  of  society 
and  manners  among  the  nations  which  they  invaded, 
although  most  of  them  had  neither  taste  nor  discern- 
ment enough  to  describe  these,  they  relate,  however, 
such  signal  acts  of  humanity  and  generosity  in  the 
conduct  of  Saladin,  as  well  as  some  other  leaders  of 
the  Mahometans,  as  give  us  a  very  high  idea  of  their 
manners.  It  was  not  possible  for  the  crusaders  to 
travel  through  so  many  countries,  and  to  behold  their 
various  customs  and  institutions,  without  acquiring  in- 
formation and  improvement.  Their  views  enlarged ; 
their  prejudices  wore  off;  new  ideas  crowded  into  their 
minds ;  and  they  must  have  been  sensible,  on  many 
occasions,  of  the  rusticity  of  their  own  manners  when 
compared  with  those  of  a  more  polished  people.  These 
impressions  were  not  so  slight  as  to  be  effaced  upon 
their  return  to  their  native  countries.  A  close  inter- 
course subsisted  between  the  East  and  West  during  two 
centuries ;  new  armies  were  continually  marching  from 


STATE   OF  EUROPE.  31 

Europe  to  Asia,  while  former  adventurers  returned 
home,  and  imported  many  of  the  customs  to  which 
they  had  been  familiarized  by  a  long  residence  abroad. 
Accordingly,  we  discover,  soon  after  the  commence- 
ment of  the  crusades,  greater  splendor  in  the  courts 
of  princes,  greater  pomp  in  public  ceremonies,  a  more 
refined  taste  in  pleasure  and  amusements,  together  with 
a  more  romantic  spirit  of  enterprise,  spreading  gradu- 
ally over  Europe ;  and  to  these  wild  expeditions,  the 
effect  of  superstition  or  folly,  we  owe  the  first  gleams 
of  light  which  tended  to  dispel  barbarism  and  igno- 
rance. 

But  these  beneficial  consequences  of  the  crusades 
took  place  slowly;  their  influence  upon  the  state  of 
property,  and  consequently  of  power,  in  the  different 
kingdoms  of  Europe,  was  more  immediate,  as  well  as 
discernible.  The  nobles  who  assumed  the  cross  and 
bound  themselves  to  march  to  the  Holy  Land  soon 
perceived  that  great  sums  were  necessary  towards  de- 
fraying the  expense  of  such  a  distant  expedition  and 
enabling  them  to  appear  with  suitable  dignity  at  the 
head  of  their  vassals.  But  the  genius  of  the  feudal 
system  was  averse  to  the  imposition  of  extraordinary 
taxes ;  and  subjects  in  that  age  were  unaccustomed  to 
pay  them.  No  expedient  remained  for  levying  the 
sums  requisite,  but  the  sale  of  their  possessions.  As 
men  were  inflamed  with  romantic  expectations  of  the 
splendid  conquests  which  they  hoped  to  make  in  Asia, 
and  possessed  with  such  zeal  for  recovering  the  Holy 
Land  as  swallowed  up  every  other  passion,  they  relin- 
quished their  ancient  inheritances  without  any  reluc- 
tance, and  for  prices  far  below  their  value",  that  they 


32  A    VIEW  OF,  THE 

might  sally  forth  as  adventurers  in  quest  of  new  settle- 
ments in  unknown  countries.  The  monarchs  of  the 
great  kingdoms  in  the  West,  none  of  whom  had  en- 
gaged in  the  first  crusade,  eagerly  seized  this  oppor- 
tunity of  annexing  considerable  territories  to  their 
crowns  at  small  expense.24  Besides  this,  several  great 
barons  who  perished  in  the  holy  war  having  left  no 
heirs,  their  fiefs  reverted  of  course  to  their  respective 
sovereigns;  and  by  these  accessions  of  property,  as 
well  as  power  taken  from  the  one  scale  and  thrown 
into  the  other,  the  regal  authority  rose  in  proportion 
as  that  of  the  aristocracy  declined.  The  absence,  too, 
of  many  potent  vassals,  accustomed  to  control  and 
give  la,w  to  their  sovereigns,  afforded  them  an  oppor- 
tunity of  extending  their  prerogative,  and  of  acquiring 
a  degree  of  weight  in  the  constitution  which  they  did 
not  formerly  possess.  To  these  circumstances  we  may 
add  that,  as  all  who  assumed  the  cross  were  taken 
under  the  immediate  protection  of  the  Church,  and  its 
heaviest  anathemas  were  denounced  against  such  as 
should  disquiet  or  annoy  those  who  had  devoted  them- 
selves to  this  service,  the  private  quarrels  and  hostili- 
ties which  banished  tranquillity  from  a  feudal  kingdom 
were  suspended  or  extinguished  ;  a  more  general  and 
steady  administration  of  justice  began  to  be  intro- 
duced, and  some  advances  were  made  towards  the 
establishment  of  regular  government  in  the  several 
kingdoms  of  Europe.25 

The  commercial  effects  of  the  crusades  were  not  less 

»4  Wilhelm.  Malmsbur.  Guibert.  Abbas,  ap.  Bongars.,  vol.  i.  p.  481. 
25  Du  Cange,  Glossar.,  voc.   Crtice  signatus. — Guib.  Abbas,   ap. 
Bongars.,  vol.  i.  pp.  480,  482. — See  also  Note  XIV. 


STATE    OF  EUROPE. 


33 


considerable  than  those  which  I  have  already  mentioned. 
The  first  armies  under  the  standard  of  the  cross,  which 
Peter  the  Hermit  and  Godfrey  of  Bouillon  led  through 
Germany  and  Hungary  to  Constantinople,  suffered  so 
much  by  the  length  of  the  march,  as  well  as  by  the 
fierceness  of  the  barbarous  people  who  inhabited  those 
countries,  that  it  deterred  others  from  taking  the  same 
route;  and,  rather  than  encounter  so  many  dangers, 
they  chose  to  go  by  sea.  Venice,  Genoa,  and  Pisa  fur- 
nished the  transports  on  which  they  embarked.  The 
sum  which  these  cities  received  merely  for  freight  from 
such  numerous  armies  was  immense.26  This,  however, 
was  but  a  small  part  of  what  they  gained  by  the  expe- 
ditions to  the  Holy  Land :  the  crusaders  contracted 
with  them  for  military  stores  and  provisions;  their 
fleets  kept  on  the  coast  as  the  armies  advanced  by 
land,  and,  supplying  them  with  whatever  was  wanting, 
engrossed  all  the  profits  of  a  branch  of  commerce 
which  in  every  age  has  been  extremely  lucrative.  The 
success  which  attended  the  arms  of  the  crusaders  was 
productive  of  advantages  still  more  permanent.  There 
are  charters  yet  extant,  containing  grants  to  the  Vene- 
tians, Pisans,  and  Genoese,  of  the  most  extensive  im- 
munities in  the  several  settlements  which  the  Christians 
made  in  Asia.  All  the  commodities  which  they  imported 
or  exported  are  thereby  exempted  from  every  imposi- 
tion;  the  property  of  entire  suburbs  in  some -of  the 
maritime  towns,  and  of  large  streets  in  others,  is  vested 
in  them ;  and  all  questions  arising  among  persons  set- 
tled within  their  precincts  or  who  traded  under  their 
protection  are  appointed  to  be  tried  by  their  own  laws 

*  Muratori,  Antiquit.  Italic.  Medii  JEvl,  vol.  ii.  p.  905. 
B* 


34 


A    VIEW  OF  THE 


and  by  judges  of  their  own  appointment.27  When  the 
crusaders  seized  Constantinople  and  placed  one  of 
their  own  leaders  on  the  imperial  throne,  the  Italian 
states  were  likewise  gainers  by  that  event.  The  Vene- 
tians, who  had  planned  the  enterprise  and  took  a  con- 
siderable part  in  carrying  it  into  execution,  did  not 
neglect  to  secure  to  themselves  the  chief  advantages 
redounding  from  its  success.  They  made  themselves 
masters  of  part  of  the  ancient  Peloponnesus  in  Greece, 
together  with  some  of  the  most  fertile  islands  in  the 
Archipelago.  Many  valuable  branches  of  the  com- 
merce which  formerly  centred  in  Constantinople  were 
transferred  to  Venice,  Genoa,  or  Pisa.  Thus  a  suc- 
cession of  events  occasioned  by  the  holy  war  opened 
various  sources  from  which  wealth  flowed  in  such  abun- 
dance into  these  cities28  as  enabled  them,  in  concurrence 
with  another  institution,  which  shall  be  immediately 
mentioned,  to  secure  their  own  liberty  and  independ- 
ence. 

II.  The  institution  to  which  I  alluded  was  the  form- 
ing of  cities  into  communities,  corporations,  or  bodies 
politic,  and  granting  them  the  privilege  of  municipal 
jurisdiction,  which  contributed  more  perhaps  than  any 
other  cause  to  introduce  regular  government,  police, 
and  arts,  and  to  diffuse  them  over  Europe.  The  feudal 
government  had  degenerated  into  a  system  of  oppres- 
sion. The  usurpations  of  the  nobles  were  become  un- 
bounded and  intolerable ;  they  had  reduced  the  great 
body  of  the  people  into  a  state  of  actual  servitude  :  the 

*7  Muratori,  Antiquit.  Italic.  Medii  JEvi,  vol.  ii.   p.  906,  etc. 
28  Villehardouin,  Histoire  de  Constant,  sous  1'Empereurs  Frangois, 
p.  105,  etc. 


STATE    OF  EUROPE.  35 

condition  of  those  dignified  with  the  name  of  freemen 
was  often  little  preferable  to  that  of  the  other.  Nor 
was  such  oppression  the  portion  of  those  alone  who 
dwelt  in  the  country  and  were  employed  in  culti- 
vating the  estate  of  their  master.  Cities  and  villages 
found  it  necessary  to  hold  of  some  great  lord,  on 
whom  they  might  depend  for  protection  and  become 
no  less  subject  to  his  arbitrary  jurisdiction.  The 
inhabitants  were  deprived  of  those  rights  which,  in 
social  life,  are  deemed  most  natural  and  inalienable. 
They  could  not  dispose  of  the  effects  which  their  own 
industry  had  acquired,  either  by  a  latter  will,  or  by 
any  deed  executed  during  their  life.29  They  had  no 
right  to  appoint  guardians  for  their  children  during 
their  minority.  They  were  not  permitted  to  marry 
without  purchasing  the  consent  of  the  lord  on  whom 
they  depended.30  If  once  they  had  commenced  a  law- 
suit, they  durst  not  terminate  it  by  an  accommodation, 
because  that  would  have  deprived  the  lord,  in  whose 
court  they  pleaded,  of  the  perquisites  due  to  him  on 
passing  sentence.31  Services  of  various  kinds,  no  less 
disgraceful  than  oppressive,  were  exacted  from  them 
without  mercy  or  moderation.  The  spirit  of  industry 
was  checked  in  some  cities  by  absurd  regulations, 
and  in  others  by  unreasonable  exactions;  nor  would 
the  narrow  and  oppressive  maxims  of  a  military  aris- 

*»  Dacherii  Spicileg.,  torn.  xi.  pp.  374,  375,  edit,  in  410. — Ordon- 
nances  des  Rois  de  France,  torn.  iii.  p.  204,  no.  2,  6. 

3°  Ordonnances  des  Rois  de  France,  torn.  i.  p.  22,  torn.  iii.  p.  203, 
no.  I. — Murat.,  Antiq.  Ital.,  vol.  iv.  p.  20. — Dacher.,  Spicil.,  vol.  ix. 
pp.  325,  341. 

3'  Dacher.,  Spicil.,  vol.  ix.  p.  182. 


36  A    VIEW  OF  THE 

tocracy  have  permitted  it  ever  to  rise  to  any  degree 
of  height  or  vigor.32 

But  as  soon  as  the  cities  of  Italy  began  to  turn  their 
attention  towards  commerce,  and  to  conceive  some 
idea  of  the  advantages  which  they  might  derive  from 
it,  they  became  impatient  to  shake  off  the  yoke  of  their 
insolent  lords,  and  to  establish  among  themselves  such 
a  free  and  equal  government  as  would  render<*property 
secure  and  industry  flourishing.  The  German  em- 
perors, especially  those  of  the  Franconian  and  Suabian 
lines,  as  the  seat  of  their  government  was  far  distant 
from  Italy,  possessed  a  feeble  and  imperfect  jurisdic- 
tion in  that  country.  Their  perpetual  quarrels,  either 
with  the  popes  or  with  their  own  turbulent  vassals, 
diverted  their  attention  from  the  interior  police  of  Italy 
and  gave  constant  employment  to  their  arms.  These 
circumstances  encouraged  the  inhabitants  of  some  of 
the  Italian  cities,  towards  the  beginning  of  the  elev- 
enth century,  to  assume  new  privileges,  to  unite  together 
more  closely,  and  to  form  themselves  into  bodies  politic 
under  the  government  of  laws  established  by  common 
consent.33  The  rights  which  many  cities  acquired  by 
bold  or  fortunate  usurpations,  others  purchased  from  the 
emperors,  who  deemed  themselves  gainers  when  they 
received  large  sums  for  immunities  which  they  were 
no  longer  able  to  withhold  ;  and  some  cities  obtained 
them  gratuitously,  from  the  generosity  or  facility  of  the 
princes  on  whom  they  depended.  The  great  increase 
of  wealth  which  the  crusades  brought  into  Italy  occa- 

s2  M.  I'Abbe  Mably,  Observations  sur  1'Histoire  de  France,  torn.  ii. 
pp.  2,  96. 

33  Murat.,  Antiq.  Ital.,  vol.  iv.  p.  5. 


STATE    OF  EUROPE. 


37 


sioned  a  new  kind  of  fermentation  and  activity  in  the 
minds  of  the  people,  and  excited  such  a  general  passion 
for  liberty  and  independence  that  before  the  conclusion 
of  the  last  crusade  all  the  considerable  cities  in  that 
country  had  either  purchased  or  had  extorted  large 
immunities  from  the  emperors.34 

This  innovation  was  not  long  known  in  Italy  before 
it  made  its  way  into  France.  Louis  le  Gros,  in  order 
to  create  some  power  that  might  counterbalance  those 
potent  vassals  who  controlled  or  gave  law  to  the  crown, 
first  adopted  the  plan  of  conferring  new  privileges  on 
the  towns  situated  within  its  own  domain.  These  privi- 
leges were  called  charters  of  community,  by  which  he 
enfranchised  the  inhabitants,  abolished  all  marks  of 
servitude,  and  formed  them  into  corporations  or  bodies 
politic,  to  be  governed  by  a  council  and  magistrates  of 
their  own  nomination.  These  magistrates  had  the  right 
of  administering  justice  within  their  own  precincts,  of 
levying  taxes,  of  embodying  and  training  to  arms  the 
militia  of  the  town,  which  took  the  field  when  required 
by  the  sovereign,  under  the  command  of  officers  ap- 
pointed by  the  community.  The  great  barons  imitated 
the  example  of  their  monarch,  and  granted  like  immu- 
nities to  the  towns  within  their  territories.  They  had 
wasted  such  great  sums  in  their  expeditions  to  the  Holy 
Land  that  they  were  eager  to  lay  hold  on  this  new  ex- 
pedient for  raising  money,  by  the  sale  of  those  charters 
of  liberty.  Though  the  institution  of  communities  was 
as  repugnant  to  their  maxims  of  policy  as  it  was  adverse 
to  their  power,  they  disregarded  remote  consequences 
in  order  to  obtain  present  relief.  In  less  than  two 

34  Note  XV. 
Charles.— Vol.  I.  4 


38  ^   VIEW  OF  THE 

centuries  servitude  was  abolished  in  most  of  the  towns 
in  France,  and  they  became  free  corporations,  instead 
of  dependent  villages  without  jurisdiction  or  privileges.35 
Much  about  the  same  period  the  great  cities  in  Ger- 
many began  to  acquire  like  immunities,  and  laid  the 
foundation  of  their  present  liberty  and  independence.36 
The  practice  spread  quickly  over  Europe,  and  was 
adopted  in  Spain,  England,  Scotland,  and  all  the  other 
feudal  kingdoms.37 

The  good  effects  of  this  new  institution  were  immedi- 
ately felt,  and  its  influence  on  government  as  well  as  man- 
ners was  no  less  extensive  than  salutary.  A  great  body 
of  the  people  was  released  from  servitude,  and  from  all 
the  arbitrary  and  grievous  impositions  to  which  that 
wretched  condition  had  subjected  them.  Towns,  upon 
acquiring  the  right  of  community,  became  so  many 
little  republics,  governed  by  known  and  equal  laws. 
Liberty  was  deemed  such  an  essential  and  characteristic 
part  in  their  constitution  that  if  any  slave  took  refuge 
in  one  of  them,  and  resided  there  during  a  year  with- 
out being  claimed,  he  was  instantly  declared  a  freeman 
and  admitted  as  a  member  of  the  community.38 

As  one  part  of  the  people  owed  their  liberty  to  the 
erection  of  communities,  another  was  indebted  to  them 
for  their  security.  Such  had  been  the  state  of  Europe 
during  several  centuries  that  self-preservation  obliged 
every  man  to  court  the  patronage  of  some  powerful 
baron,  and  in  times  of  danger  his  castle  was  the  place 
to  which  all  resorted  for  safety.  But  towns  surrounded 

35  Note  XVI.  36  Note  XVII.  37  Note  XVIII. 

#  Statut.  Humbert!  Bellojoci,  Dacher.,  Spicil.,  vol.  ix.  pp.  182,  185. 
— Charta  Comit.  Forens.,  ibid.,  p.  193. 


STATE    OF  EUROPE. 


39 


with  walls,  whose  inhabitants  were  regularly  trained  to 
arms,  and  bound  by  interest,  as  well  as  by  the  most 
solemn  engagements,  reciprocally  to  defend  each  other, 
afforded  a  more  commodious  and  secure  retreat.  The 
nobles  began  to  be  considered  as  of  less  importance 
when  they  ceased  to  be  the  sole  guardians  to  whom 
the  people  could  look  up  for  protection  against  vio- 
lence. 

If  the  nobility  suffered  some  diminution  of  their 
credit  and  power  by  the  privileges  granted  to  the  cities, 
the  crown  acquired  an  increase  of  both.  As  there  were 
no. regular  troops  kept  on  foot  in  any  of  the  feudal 
kingdoms,  the  monarch  could  bring  no  army  into  the 
field  but  what  was  composed  of  soldiers  furnished  by 
the  crown  vassals,  always  jealous  of  the  regal  authority ; 
nor  had  he  any  funds  for  carrying  on  the  public  service 
but  such  as  they  granted  him  with  a  very  sparing  hand. 
But  when  the  members  of  communities  were  permitted 
to  bear  arms,  and  were  trained  to  the  use  of  them,  this 
in  some  degree  supplied  the  first  defect,  and  gave  the 
crown  the  command  of  a  body  of  men  independent 
of  its  great  vassals.  The  attachment  of  the  cities  to 
their  sovereigns,  whom  they  respected  as  the  first  authors 
of  their  liberties,  and  whom  they  were  obliged  to  court 
as  the  protectors  of  their  immunities  against  the  domi- 
neering spirit  of  the  nobles,  contributed  somewhat 
towards  removing  the  second  evil,  as,  on  many  occa- 
sions, it  procured  the  crown  supplies  of  money,  which 
added  new  force  to  government.39 

The  acquisition  of  liberty  made  such  a  happy  change 

39  Ordon.  des  Rois  de  France,  torn.  i.  pp.  602,  785  ;  torn.  ii.  pp.  318, 
422. 


40  A   VIEW  OF   THE 

in  the  condition  of  all  the  members  of  communities  as 
roused  them  from  that  inaction  into  which  they  had 
been  sunk  by  the  wretchedness  of  their  former  state. 
The  spirit  of  industry  revived.  Commerce  became  an 
object  of  attention,  and  began  to  flourish.  Population 
increased.  Independence  was  established;  and  wealth 
flowed  into  cities  which  had  long  been  the  seat  of  pov- 
erty and  oppression.  Wealth  was  accompanied  by  its 
usual  attendants,  ostentation  and  luxury;  and  though 
the  former  was  formal  and  cumbersome,  and  the  latter 
inelegant,  they  led  gradually  to  greater  refinement  in 
manners  and  in  the  habits  of  life.  Together  with  this 
improvement  in  manners,  a  more  regular  species  of 
government  and  police  was  introduced.  As  cities 
grew  to  be  more  populous,  and  the  occasions  of  inter- 
course among  men  increased,  statutes  and  regulations 
multiplied  of  course,  and  all  became  sensible  that  their 
common  safety  depended  on  observing  them  with 
exactness  and  on  punishing  such  as  violated  them  with 
promptitude  and  rigor.  Laws  and  subordination,  as 
well  as  polished  manners,  taking  their  rise  in  cities, 
diffused  themselves  insensibly  through  the  rest  of  the 
society. 

III.  The  inhabitants  of  cities,  having  obtained  per- 
sonal freedom  and  municipal  jurisdiction,  soon  acquired 
civil  liberty  and  political  power.  It  was  a  fundamental 
principle  in  the  feudal  system  of  policy  that  no  free- 
man could  be  subjected  to  new  laws  or  taxes  unless  by 
his  own  consent.  In  consequence  of  this,  the  vassals 
of  every  baron  were  called  to  his  court,  in  which  they 
established,  by  mutual  consent,  such  regulations  as 
they  deemed  most  beneficial  to  their  small  society,  and 


STATE    OF  EUROPE.  4I 

granted  their  superior  such  supplies  of  money  as  were 
proportioned  to  their  abilities  or  to  his  wants.  The 
barons  themselves,  conformably  to  the  same  maxim, 
were  admitted  into  the  supreme  assembly  of  the  nation, 
and  concurred  with  the  sovereign  in  enacting  laws  or 
in  imposing  taxes.  As  the  superior  lord,  according  to 
the  original  plan  of  feudal  policy,  retained  the  direct 
property  of  those  lands  which  he  granted  in  temporary 
possession  to  his  vassals,  the  law,  even  after  fiefs  be- 
came hereditary,  still  supposed  this  original  practice  to 
subsist.  The  great  council  of  each  nation,  whether 
distinguished  by  the  name  of  a  parliament,  a  diet,  the 
cortes,  or  the  states-general,  was  composed  entirely  of 
such  barons  and  dignified  ecclesiastics  as  held  imme- 
diately of  the  crown.  Towns,  whether  situated  within 
the  royal  domain  or  on  the  lands  of  a  subject,  de- 
pended originally  for  protection  on  the  lord  of  whom 
they  held.  They  had  no  legal  name,  no  political  ex- 
istence, which  could  entitle  them  to  be  admitted  into 
the  legislative  assembly,  or  could  give  them  any  author- 
ity there.  But  as  soon  as  they  were  enfranchised,  and 
formed  into  bodies  corporate,  they  became  legal  and 
independent  members  of  the  constitution,  and  acquired 
all  the  rights  essential  to  freemen.  Among  these,  the 
most  valuable  was  the  privilege  of  a  decisive  voice  in 
enacting  public  laws  and  granting  national  subsidies. 
It  was  natural  for  cities,  accustomed  to  a  form  of 
municipal  government  according  to  which  no  regula- 
tion could  be  established  within  the  community,  and 
no  money  could  be  raised,  but  by  their  own  consent, 
to  claim  this  privilege.  The  wealth,  the  power,  and 
consideration  which  they  acquired  on  recovering  their 


42  A   VIEW  OF  THE 

liberty  added  weight  to  their  claim ;  and  favorable 
events  happened,  or  fortunate  conjunctures  occurred, 
in  the  different  kingdoms  of  Europe,  which  facilitated 
their  obtaining  possession  of  this  important  right.  In 
England,  one  of  the  first  countries  in  which  the  rep- 
resentatives of  boroughs  were  admitted  into  the  great 
council  of  the  nation,  the  barons  who  took  arms 
against  Henry  III.  summoned  them  to  attend  parlia- 
ment, in  order  to  add  greater  popularity  to  their  party 
and  to  strengthen  the  barrier  against  the  encroachment 
of  regal  power.  In  France,  Philip  the  Fair,  a  monarch 
no  less  sagacious  than  enterprising,  considered  them 
as  instruments  which  might  be  employed  with  equal 
advantage  to  extend  the  royal  prerogative,  to  counter- 
balance the  exorbitant  power  of  the  nobles,  and  to 
facilitate  the  imposition  of  new  taxes.  With  these 
views,  he  introduced  the  deputies  of  such  towns  as 
were  formed  into  communities  into  the  states-general 
of  the  nation.40  In  the  empire,  the  wealth  and  immu- 
nities of  the  imperial  cities  placed  them  on  a  level 
with  the  most  considerable  members  of  the  Germanic 
body.  Conscious  of  their  own  power  and  dignity,  they 
pretended  to  the  privilege  of  forming  a  separate  bench 
in  the  diet,  and  made  good  their  pretensions.41  [i  293.] 
But  in  what  way  soever  the  representatives  of  cities 
first  gained  a  place  in  the  legislature,  that  event  had 
great  influence  on  the  form  and  genius  of  government. 
It  tempered  the  rigor  of  aristocratical  oppression  with 
a  proper  mixture  of  popular  liberty ;  it  secured  to  the 

*°  Pasquier,  Recherches  de  la  France,  ap.  81,  edit.  Par.,  1633. 

*T  Pfeffel,  Abrege  de  1'Histoire  et  Droit  d'Allemagne,  pp.  408,  451. 


STATE   OF  EUROPE.  43 

great  body  of  the  people,  who  had  formerly  no  repre- 
sentatives, active  and  powerful  guardians  of  their  rights 
and  privileges;  it  established  an  intermediate  power 
between  the  king  and  the  nobles,  to  which  each  had 
recourse  alternately,  and  which  at  some  times  opposed 
the  usurpations  of  the  former,  on  other  occasions 
checked  the  encroachments  of  the  latter.  As  soon  as 
the  representatives  of  communities  gained  any  degree 
of  credit  and  influence  in  the  legislature,  the  spirit  of 
laws  became  different  from  what  it  had  formerly  been ; 
it  flowed  from  new  principles  ;  it  was  directed  towards 
new  objects;  equality,  order,  the  public  good,  and  the 
redress  of  grievances,  were  phrases  and  ideas  brought 
into  use,  and  which  grew  to  be  familiar  in  the  statutes 
and  jurisprudence  of  the  European  nations.  Almost 
all  the  efforts  in  favor  of  liberty  in  every  country  of 
Europe  have  been  made  by  this  new  power  in  the  legis- 
lature. In  proportion  as  it  rose  to  consideration  and 
influence,  the  severity  of  the  aristocratical  spirit  de- 
creased ;  and  the  privileges  of  the  people  became  grad- 
ually more  extensive,  as  the  ancient  and  exorbitant 
jurisdiction  of  the  nobles  was  abridged.43 

IV.  The  inhabitants  of  towns  having  been  declared 
free  by  the  charters  of  communities,  that  part  of  the 
people  which  resided  in  the  country  and  was  employed 
in  agriculture  began  to  recover  liberty  by  enfranchise- 
ment. During  the  rigor  of  feudal  government,  as  hath 
been  already  observed,  the  great  body  of  the  lower 
people  was  reduced  to  servitude.  They  were  slaves 
fixed  to  the  soil  which  they  cultivated,  and  together 
with  it  were  transferred  from  one  proprietor  to  an- 
**  Note  XIX. 


44  A   VIEW  OF  THE 

other,  by  sale  or  by  conveyance.  The  spirit  of  feudal 
policy  did  not  favor  the  enfranchisement  of  that  order 
of  men.  It  was  an  established  maxim  that  no  vassal 
could  legally  diminish  the  value  of  a  fief,  to  the  detri- 
ment of  the  lord  from  whom  he  had  received  it.  In 
consequence  of  this,  manumission  by  the  authority  of 
the  immediate  master  was  not  valid;  and,  unless  it  was 
confirmed  by  the  superior  lord  of  whom  he  held,  slaves 
belonging  to  the  fief  did  not  acquire  a  complete  right 
to  their  liberty.  Thus  it  became  necessary  to  ascend 
through  all  the  gradations  of  feudal  holding  to  the 
king,  the  lord  paramount.43  A  form  of  procedure  so 
tedious  and  troublesome  discouraged  the  practice  of 
manumission.  Domestic  or  personal  slaves  often  ob- 
tained liberty  from  the  humanity  or  beneficence  of 
their  masters,  to  whom  they  belonged  in  absolute 
property.  The  condition  of  slaves  fixed  to  the  soil 
was  much  more  unalterable. 

But  the  freedom  and  independence  which  one  part 
of  the  people  had  obtained  by  the  institution  of  com- 
munities inspired  the  other  with  the  most  ardent  desire 
of  acquiring  the  same  privileges;  and  their  superiors, 
sensible  of  the  various  advantages  which  they  had 
derived  from  their  former  concessions  to  their  de- 
pendants, were  less  unwilling  to  gratify  them  by  the 
grant  of  new  immunities.  The  enfranchisement  of 
slaves  became  more  frequent ;  and  the  monarchs  of 
France,  prompted  by  necessity  no  less  than  by  their 
inclination  to  reduce  the  power  of  the  nobles,  endeav- 
ored to  render  it  general.  Louis  X.  and  Philip  the 

43  Establissements  de  St.  Louis,  liv.  ii.  ch.  34. — Ordon.,  torn.  i.  p. 
283,  note  (a). 


STATE    OF  EUROPE. 


45 


Long  issued  ordinances  declaring  "that  as  all  men 
were  by  nature  free  born,  and  as  their  kingdom  was 
called  the  kingdom  of  Franks,  they  determined  that  it 
should  be  so  in  reality  as  well  as  in  name :  therefore 
they  appointed  that  enfranchisements  should  be  granted 
throughout  the  whole  kingdom,  upon  just  and  reason- 
able conditions."44  These  edicts  were  carried  into 
immediate  execution  within  the  royal  domain.  The 
example  of  their  sovereigns,  together  with  the  expecta- 
tion of  considerable  sums  which  they  might  raise  by 
this  expedient,  led  many  of  the  nobles  to  set  their 
dependants  at  liberty;  and  servitude  was  gradually 
abolished  in  almost  every  province  of  the  kingdom.45 
In  Italy,  the  establishment  of  republican  government 
in  their  great  cities,  the  genius  and  maxims  of  which 
were  extremely  different  from  those  of  the  feudal 
policy,  together  with  the  ideas  of  equality,  which  the 
progress  of  commerce  had  rendered  familiar,  gradually 
introduced  the  practice  of  enfranchising  the  ancient 
predial  slaves.  In  some  provinces  of  Germany,  the 
persons  who  had  been  subject  to  this  species  of  bond- 
age were  released ;  in  others,  the  rigor  of  their  state 
was  mitigated.  In  England,  as  the  spirit  of  liberty 
gained  ground,  the  very  name  and  idea  of  personal 
servitude,  without  any  formal  interposition  of  the 
legislature  to  prohibit  it,  was  totally  banished. 

The  effects  of  such  a  remarkable  change  in  the  con- 
dition of  so  great  a  part  of  the  people  could  not  fail 
of  being  considerable  and  extensive.  The  husband- 
man, master  of  his  own  industry,  and  secure  of  reaping 
for  himself  the  fruits  of  his  labor,  became  the  farmer 

«  Ordon.,  torn.  i.  pp.  583,  653.  *s  Note  XX. 


46  A   VIEW  OF  THE 

of  the  same  fields  where  he  had  formerly  been  compelled 
to  toil  for  the  benefit  of  another.  The  odious  names 
of  master  and  of  slave,  the  most  mortifying  and  de- 
pressing of  all  distinctions  to  human  nature,  were  abol- 
ished. New  prospects  opened,  and  new  incitements  to 
ingenuity  and  enterprise  presented  themselves,  to  those 
who  were  emancipated.  The  expectation  of  bettering 
their  fortune,  as  well  as  that  of  raising  themselves  to  a 
more  honorable  condition,  concurred  in  calling  forth 
their  activity  and  genius;  and  a  numerous  class  of 
men,  who  formerly  had  no  political  existence  and  were 
employed  merely  as  instruments  of  labor,  became  use- 
ful citizens,  and  contributed  towards  augmenting  the 
force  or  riches  of  the  society  which  adopted  them  as 
members. 

V.  The  various  expedients  which  were  employed  in 
order  to  introduce  a  more  regular,  equal,  and  vigorous 
administration  of  justice  contributed  greatly  towards 
the  improvement  of  society.  What  were  the  particular 
modes  of  dispensing  justice,  in  their  several  countries, 
among  the  various  barbarous  nations  which  overran  the 
Roman  empire  and  took  possession  of  its  different 
provinces,  cannot  now  be  determined  with  certainty. 
We  may  conclude,  from  the  form  of  government  estab- 
lished among  them,  as  well  as  from  their  ideas  concern- 
ing the  nature  of  society,  that  the  authority  of  the 
magistrate  was  extremely  limited,  and  the  independence 
of  individuals  proportionally  great.  History  and  rec- 
ords, as  far  as  these  reach  back,  justify  this  conclusion, 
and  represent  the  ideas  and  exercise  of  justice  in  all 
the  countries  of  Europe  as  little  different  from  those 
which  must  take  place  in  the  most  simple  state  of  civil 


STATE    OF  EUROPE. 


47 


life.  To  maintain  the  order  and  tranquillity  of  society 
by  the  regular  execution  of  known  laws ;  to  inflict  ven- 
geance on  crimes  destructive  of  the  peace  and  safety 
of  individuals,  by  a  prosecution  carried  on  in  the  name 
and  by  the  authority  of  the  community ;  to  consider 
the  punishment  of  criminals  as  a  public  example  to 
deter  others  from  violating  the  laws, — were  objects  of 
government  little  understood  in  theory,  and  less  re- 
garded in  practice.  The  magistrate  could  hardly  be 
said  to  hold  the  sword  of  justice;  it  was  left  in  the 
hands  of  private  persons.  Resentment  was  almost  the 
sole  motive  for  prosecuting  crimes ;  and  to  gratify  that 
passion  was  considered  as  the  chief  end  in  punishing 
them.  He  who  suffered  the  wrong  was  the  only  person 
who  had  a  right  to  pursue  the  aggressor  and  to  exact 
or  to  remit  the  punishment.  From  a  system  of  judi- 
cial procedure  so  crude  and  defective  that  it  seems  to 
be  scarcely  compatible  with  the  subsistence  of  civil 
society,  disorder  and  anarchy  flowed.  Superstition 
concurred  with  this  ignorance  concerning  the  nature 
of  government,  in  obstructing  the  administration  of 
justice,  or  in  rendering  it  capricious  and  unequal.  To 
provide  remedies  for  these  evils,  so  as  to  give  a  more 
regular  course  to  justice,  was,  during  several  centuries, 
one  great  object  of  political  wisdom.  The  regulations 
for  this  purpose  may  be  reduced  to  three  general  heads : 
to  explain  these,  and  to  point  out  the  manner  in  which 
they  operated,  is  an  important  article  in  the  history  of 
society  among  the  nations  of  Europe. 

i.  The  first  considerable  step  towards  establishing 
an  equal  administration  of  justice  was  the  abolishment 
of  the  right  which  individuals  claimed  of  waging  war 


48  A    VIEW  OF  THE 

with  each  other  in  their  own  name  and  by  their  own 
authority.  To  repel  injuries,  and  to  revenge  wrongs, 
-  is  no  less  natural  to  man  than  to  cultivate  friendship ; 
and  while  society  remains  in  its  most  simple  state,  the 
former  is  considered  as  a  personal  right,  no  less  un- 
alienable  than  the  latter.  Nor  do  men  in  this  situation 
deem  that  they  have  a  title  to  redress  their  own  wrongs 
alone  :  they  are  touched  with  the  injuries  done  to  those 
with  whom  they  are  connected  or  in  whose  honor  they 
are  interested,  and  are  no  less  prompt  to  avenge  them. 
The  savage,  how  imperfectly  soever  he  may  compre- 
hend the  principles  of  political  union,  feels  warmly 
the  sentiments  of  social  affection  and  the  obligations 
arising  from  the  ties  of  blood.  On  the  appearance 
of  an  injury  or  affront  offered  to  his  family  or  tribe,  he 
kindles  into  rage,  and  pursues  the  authors  of  it  with 
the  keenest  resentment.  He  considers  it  as  cowardly 
to  expect  redress  from  any  arm  but  his  own,  and  as 
infamous  to  give  up  to  another  the  right  of  determining 
what  reparation  he  should  accept,  or  with  what  ven- 
geance he  should  rest  satisfied. 

The  maxims  and  practice  of  all  uncivilized  nations 
with  respect  to  the  prosecution  and  punishment  of 
offenders,  particularly  those  of  the  ancient  Germans, 
and  other  barbarians  who  invaded  the  Roman  empire, 
are  perfectly  conformable  to  these  ideas.46  While  they 
retained  their  native  simplicity  of  manners,  and  con- 
tinued to  be  divided  into  small  tribes  or  societies,  the 
defects  in  this  imperfect  system  of  criminal  jurispru- 
dence (if  it  merits  that  name)  were  less  sensibly  felt. 
When  they  came  to  settle  in  the  extensive  provinces 

•4*  Tacit,  de  Mor.  German.,  cap.  21. — Veil.  Paterc.,  lib.  ii.  c.  118. 


STATE    OF  EUROPE. 


49 


which  they  had  conquered,  and  to  form  themselves  into 
great  monarchies,  when  new  objects  of  ambition  pre- 
senting themselves  increased  both  the  number  and  the 
violence  of  their  dissensions,  they  ought  to  have  adopted 
new  maxims  concerning  the  redress  of  injuries,  and  to 
have  regulated  by  general  and  equal  laws  that  which 
they  formerly  left  to  be  directed  by  the  caprice  of 
private  passion.  But  fierce  and  haughty  chieftains,  ac- 
customed to  avenge  themselves  on  such  as  had  injured 
them,  did  not  think  of  relinquishing  a  right  which  they 
considered  as  a  privilege  of  their  order  and  a  mark  of 
their  independence.  Laws  enforced  by  the  authority 
of  princes  and  magistrates  who  possessed  little  power 
commanded  no  great  degree  of  reverence.  The  admin- 
istration of  justice  among  rude,  illiterate  people  was 
not  so  accurate,  or  decisive,  or  uniform,  as  to  induce 
men  to  submit  implicitly  to  its  determinations.  Every 
offended  baron  buckled  on  his  armor  and  sought  re- 
dress at  the  head  of  his  vassals.  His  adversary  met 
him  in  like  hostile  array.  Neither  of  them  appealed 
to  impotent  laws  which  could  afford  them  no  protec- 
tion ;  neither  of  them  would  submit  points,  in  which 
their  honor  and  their  passions  were  warmly  interested, 
to  the  slow  determination  of  a  judicial  inquiry.  Both 
trusted  to  their  swords  for  the  decision  of  the  contest. 
The  kindred  and  dependants  of  the  aggressor,  as  well 
as  the  defender,  were  involved  in  the  quarrel.  They 
had  not  even  the  liberty  of  remaining  neutral.  Such 
as  refused  to  act  in  concert  with  the  party  to  which 
they  belonged  were  not  only  exposed  to  infamy,  but 
subjected  to  legal  penalties. 

The  different  kingdoms  of  Europe  were  torn  and 
Charles.— VOL.  I.— c  5 


5° 


A    VIEW  OF  THE 


afflicted,  during  several  centuries,  by  intestine  wars, 
excited  by  private  animosities,  and  carried  on  with  all 
the  rage  natural  to  men  of  fierce  manners  and  of  violent 
passions.  The  estate  of  every  baron  was  a  kind  of 
independent  territory,  disjoined  from  those  around  it, 
and  the  hostilities  between  them  seldom  ceased.  The 
evil  became  so  inveterate  and  deep-rooted  that  the 
form  and  laws  of  private  war  were  ascertained,  and 
regulations  concerning  it  made  a  part  in  the  system  of 
jurisprudence,47  in  the  same  manner  as  if  this  practice 
had  been  founded  in  some  natural  right  of  humanity, 
or  in  the  original  constitution  of  civil  society. 

So  great  was  the  disorder,  and  such  the  calamities, 
which  these  perpetual  hostilities  occasioned,  that  vari- 
ous efforts  were  made  to  wrest  from  the  nobles  this  per- 
nicious privilege.  It  was  the  interest  of  every  sovereign 
to  abolish  a  practice  which  almost  annihilated  his  au- 
thority. Charlemagne  prohibited  it  by  an  express  law, 
as  an  invention  of  the  Devil  to  destroy  the  order  and 
happiness  of  society ; 48  but  the  reign  of  one  monarch, 
however  vigorous  and  active,  was  too  short  to  extirpate 
a  custom  so  firmly  established.  Instead  of  enforcing 
this  prohibition,  his  feeble  successors  durst  venture  on 
nothing  more  than  to  apply  palliatives.  They  declared 
it  unlawful  for  any  person  to  commence  war  until  he 
had  sent  a  formal  defiance  to  the  kindred  and  depend- 
ants of  his  adversary;  they  ordained  that,  after  the 
commission  of  the  trespass  or  crime  which  gave  rise  to 
a  private  war,  forty  days  must  elapse  before  the  person 

47  Beaumanoir,  Coustumes  de  Beauvoisis,  ch.  59,  et  les  notes  de 
Thaumassiere,  p.  447. 

4s  Capitul.  A.D.  801,  edit.  Baluz.,  vol.  i.  p.  371. 


STATE    OF  EUROPE.  51 

injured  should  attack  the  vassals  of  his  adversary ;  they 
enjoined  all  persons  to  suspend  their  private  animosi- 
ties and  to  cease  from  hostilities  when  the  king  was 
engaged  in  any  war  against  the  enemies  of  the  nation. 
The  Church  co-operated  with  the  civil  magistrate,  and 
interposed  its  authority,  in  order  to  extirpate  a  practice 
so  repugnant  to  the  spirit  of  Christianity.  Various 
councils  issued  decrees  prohibiting  all  private  wars, 
and  denounced  the  heaviest  anathemas  against  such  as 
should  disturb  the  tranquillity  of  society  by  claiming  or 
exercising  that  barbarous  right.  The  aid  of  religion 
was  called  in  to  combat  and  subdue  the  ferocity  of  the 
times.  The  Almighty  was  said  to  have  manifested,  by 
visions  and  revelations  to  different  persons,  his  dis- 
approbation of  that  spirit  of  revenge  which  armed  one 
part  of  his  creatures  against  the  other.  Men  were  re- 
quired, in  the  name  of  God,  to  sheathe  their  swords, 
and  to  remember  the  sacred  ties  which  united  them  as 
Christians  and  as  members  of  the  same  society.  But 
this  junction  of  civil  and  ecclesiastical  authority,  though 
strengthened  by  every  thing  most  apt  to  alarm  and  to 
overawe  the  credulous  spirit  of  those  ages,  produced  no 
other  effect  than  some  temporary  suspensions  of  hostili- 
ties, and  a  cessation  from  war  on  certain  days  and  sea- 
sons consecrated  to  the  more  solemn  acts  of  devotion. 
The  nobles  continued  to  assert  this  dangerous  privilege  ; 
they  refused  to  obey  some  of  the  laws  calculated  to 
annul  or  circumscribe  it ;  they  eluded  others ;  they 
petitioned,  they  remonstrated,  they  struggled  for  the 
right  of  private  war,  as  the  highest  and  most  honor- 
able distinction  of  their  order.  Even  so  late  as  the 
fourteenth  century  we  find  the  nobles  in  several  prov- 


52  A   VIEW  OF   THE 

inces  of  France  contending  for  their  ancient  method 
of  terminating  their  differences  by  the  sword,  in  prefer- 
ence to  that  of  submitting  them  to  the  decision  of  any 
judge.  The  final  abolition  of  this  practice  in  that 
kingdom,  and  the  other  countries  in  which  it  prevailed, 
is  not  to  be  ascribed  so  much  to  the  force  of  statutes 
and  decrees,  as  to  the  gradual  increase  of  the  royal 
authority,  and  to  the  imperceptible  progress  of  juster 
sentiments  concerning  government,  order,  and  public 
security.49 

2.  The  prohibition  of  the  form  of  trial  by  judicial 
combat  was  another  considerable  step  towards  the 
introduction  of  such  regular  government  as  secured 
public*  order  and  private  tranquillity.  As  the  right  of 
private  war  left  many  of  the  quarrels  among  individuals 
to  be  decided,  like  those  between  nations,  by  arms,  the 
form  of  trial  by  judicial  combat,  which  was  established 
in  every  country  of  Europe,  banished  equity  from  courts 
of  justice,  and  rendered  chance  or  force  the  arbiter  of 
their  determinations.  In  civilized  nations,  all  trans- 
actions of  any  importance  are  concluded  in  writing. 
The  exhibition  of  the  deed  or  instrument  is  full  evi- 
dence of  the  fact,  and  ascertains  with  precision  what 
each  party  has  stipulated  to  perform.  But  among  a  rude 
people,  when  the  arts  of  reading  and  writi'ng  were  such 
uncommon  attainments  that  to  be  master  of  either  en- 
titled a  person  to  the  appellation  of  a  clerk  or  learned 
man,  scarcely  any  thing  was  committed  to  writing  but 
treaties  between  princes,  their  grants  and  charters  to 
their  subjects,  or  such  transactions  between  private 
parties  as  were  of  extraordinary  consequence  or  had 

<9  Note  XXI. 


STATE    OF  EUROPE. 


53 


an  extensive  effect.  The  greater  part  of  affairs  in 
common  life  and  business  was  carried  on  by  verbal 
contracts  or  promises.  This,  in  many  civil  questions, 
not  only  made  it  difficult  to  bring  proof  sufficient  to 
establish  any  claim,  but  encouraged  falsehood  and 
fraud,  by  rendering  them  extremely  easy.  Even  in 
criminal  cases,  where  a  particular  fact  must  be  ascer- 
tained or  an  accusation  must  be  disproved,  the  nature 
and  effect  of  legal  evidence  were  little  understood  by 
barbarous  nations.  To  define  with  accuracy  that  spe- 
cies of  evidence  which  a  court  had  reason  to  expect, 
to  determine  when  it  ought  to  insist  on  positive  proof 
and  when  it  should  be  satisfied  with  a  proof  from  cir- 
cumstances, to  compare  the  testimony  of  discordant 
witnesses,  and  to  fix  the  degree  of  credit  due  to  each, 
were  discussions  too  intricate  and  subtile  for  the  juris- 
prudence of  ignorant  ages.  In  order  to  avoid  encum- 
bering themselves  with  these,  a  more  simple  form  of 
procedure  was  introduced  into  courts  as  well  civil  as 
criminal.  In  all  cases  where  the  notoriety  of  the  fact 
did  not  furnish  the  clearest  and  most  direct  evidence, 
the  person  accused,  or  he  against  whom  an  action  was 
brought,  was  called  legally,  or  offered  voluntarily,  to 
purge  himself  by  oath ;  and  upon  his  declaring  his  inno- 
cence he  was  instantly  acquitted.50  This  absurd  prac- 
tice effectually  screened  guilt  and  fraud  from  detection 
and  punishment,  by  rendering  the  temptation  to  per- 
jury so  powerful  that  it  was  not  easy  to  resist  it.  The 
pernicious  effects  of  it  were  sensibly  felt;  and,  in  order 
to  guard  against  them,  the  laws  ordained  that  oaths 

5°  Leg.  Burgund.,  tit.  8  et  45. — Leg.  Aleman.,  tit.  89. — Leg.  Baiwar., 
tit.  8,  §  5,  2,  etc. 

5* 


54  A   VIEW  OF   THE 

should  be  administered  with  great  solemnity,  and  ac- 
companied with  every  circumstance  which  could  inspire 
religious  reverence  or  superstitious  terror.51  This,  how- 
ever, proved  a  feeble  remedy :  these  ceremonious  rites 
became  familiar,  and  their  impression  on  the  imagina- 
tion gradually  diminished ;  men  who  could  venture  to 
disregard  truth  were  not  apt  to  startle  at  the  solemni- 
ties of  an  oath.  Their  observation  of  this  put  legis- 
lators upon  devising  a  new  expedient  for  rendering  the 
purgation  by  oath  more  certain  and  satisfactory.  They 
required  the  person  accused  to  appear  with  a  certain 
number  of  freemen,  his  neighbors  or  relations,  who 
corroborated  the  oath  which  he  took,  by  swearing  that 
they  believed  all  that  he  had  uttered  to  be  true.  These 
were  called  compurgators,  and  their  number  varied 
according  to  the  importance  of  the  subject  in  dispute, 
or  the  nature  of  the  crime  with  which  a  person  was 
charged.52  In  some  cases  the  concurrence  of  no  less 
than  three  hundred  of  these  auxiliary  witnesses  was 
requisite  to  acquit  the  person  accused.53  But  even  this 
device  was  found  to  be  ineffectual.  It  was  a  point  of 
honor  with  every  man  in  Europe,  during  several  ages, 
not  to  desert  the  chief  on  whom  he  depended,  and  to 
stand  by  those  with  whom  the  ties  of  blood  connected 
him.  Whoever  then  was  bold  enough  to  violate  the 
laws  was  sure  of  devoted  adherents,  willing  to  abet  and 
eager  to  serve  him  in  whatever  manner  he  required. 

<5»Du  Cange,  Glossar.,  voc.  Juramentum,  vol.  iii.  p.  1607,  edit. 
Benedict. 

5=  Du  Cange,  ibid.,  vol.  iii.  p.  1599. 

53  Spelman,  Glossar.,  voc.  Assath. — Gregor.  Turon.,  Hist.,  lib.  viii. 
c.  9. 


STATE    OF  EUROPE.  55 

The  formality  of  calling  compurgators  proved  an 
apparent,  not  a  real,  security  against  falsehood  and 
perjury;  and  the  sentences  of  courts,  while  they  con- 
tinued to  refer  every  point  in  question  to  the  oath  of 
the  defendant,  became  so  flagrantly  iniquitous  as  to 
excite  universal  indignation  against  this  method  of 
procedure.54 

Sensible  of  these  defects,  but  strangers  to  the  man- 
ner of  correcting  them  or  of  introducing  a  more  proper 
form,  our  ancestors,  as  an  infallible  method  of  discov- 
ering truth  and  of  guarding  against  deception,  appealed 
to  Heaven,  and  referred  every  point  in  dispute  to  be 
determined,  as  they  imagined,  by  the  decisions  of 
unerring  wisdom  and  impartial  justice.  The  person 
accused,  in  order  to  prove  his  innocence,  submitted  to 
trial,  in  certain  cases,  either  by  plunging  his  arm  in 
boiling  water,  or  by  lifting  a  red-hot  iron  with  his 
naked  hand,  or  by  walking  barefoot  over  burning 
ploughshares,  or  by  other  experiments  equally  perilous 
and  formidable.  On  other  occasions  he  challenged 
his  accuser  to  fight  him  in  single  combat.  All  these 
various  forms  of  trial  were  conducted  with  many  devout 
ceremonies;  the  ministers  of  religion  were  employed ; 
the  Almighty  was  called  upon  to  interpose  for  the 
manifestation  of  guilt  and  for  the  protection  of  inno- 
cence ;  and  whoever  escaped  unhurt  or  came  off  victo- 
rious was  pronounced  to  be  acquitted  by  the  judgment 
of  God* 

Among  all  the  whimsical  and  absurd  institutions 
which  owe  their  existence  to  the  weakness  of  human 

54  Leg.  Longobard.,  lib.  ii.  tit.  55,  $  34. 

55  Murat.,  Dissertatio  de  Judiciis  Dei,  Antiquit.  Ital.,  vol.  iii.  p.  612. 


56  A    VIEW  OF   THE 

reason,  this,  which  submitted  questions  that  affected 
the  property,  the  reputation,  and  the  lives  of  men  to 
the  determination  of  chance  or  of  bodily  strength  and 
address,  appears  to  be  the  most  extravagant  and  pre- 
posterous. There  were  circumstances,  however,  which 
led  the  nations  of  Europe  to  consider  this  equivocal 
mode  of  deciding  any  point  in  contest  as  a  direct 
appeal  to  Heaven  and  a  certain  method  of  discovering 
its  will.  As  men  are  unable  to  comprehend  the  man- 
ner in  which  the  Almighty  carries  on  the  government 
of  the  universe,  by  equal,  fixed,  and  general  laws, 
they  are  apt  to  imagine  that  in  every  case  which  their 
passions  or  interest  render  important  in  their  own  eyes 
the  Supreme  Ruler  of  all  ought  visibly  to  display  his 
power  in  vindicating  innocence  and  punishing  guilt. 
It  requires  no  inconsiderable  degree  of  science  and 
philosophy  to  correct  this  popular  error.  But  the  sen- 
timents prevalent  in  Europe  during  the  Dark  Ages, 
instead  of  correcting,  strengthened  it.  Religion,  for 
several  centuries,  consisted  chiefly  in  believing  the 
legendary  history  of  those  saints  whose  names  crowd 
and  disgrace  the  Romish  calendar.  The  fabulous  tales 
concerning  their  miracles  had  been  declared  authentic 
by  the  bulls  of  popes  and  the  decrees  of  councils ;  they 
made  the  great  subjects  of  the  instructions  which  the 
clergy  offered  to  the  people,  and  were  received  by 
them  with  implicit  credulity  and  admiration.  By 
attending  to  these,  men  were  accustomed  to  believe 
that  the  established  laws  of  nature  might  be  violated 
on  the  most  frivolous  occasions,  and  were  taught  to 
look  rather  for  particular  and  extraordinary  acts  of 
power  under  the  divine  administration  than  to  con- 


STATE    OF  EUROPE. 


57 


template  the  regular  progress  and  execution  of  a  gen- 
eral plan.  One  superstition  prepared  the  way  for 
another ;  and  whoever  believed  that  the  Supreme 
Being  had  interposed  miraculously  on  those  trivial 
occasions  mentioned  in  legends  could  not  but  expect 
his  intervention  in  matters  of  greater  importance,  when 
solemnly  referred  to  his  decision. 

With  this  superstitious  opinion  the  martial  spirit  of 
Europe,  during  the  Middle  Ages,  concurred  in  estab- 
lishing the  mode  of  trial  by  judicial  combat.  To  be 
ready  to  maintain  with  his  sword  whatever  his  lips  had 
uttered  was  the  first  maxim  of  honor  with  every  gentle- 
man. To  assert  their  own  rights  by  force  of  arms,  to 
inflict  vengeance  on  those  who  had  injured  or  affronted 
them,  were  the  distinction  and  pride  of  high-spirited 
nobles.  The  form  of  trial  by  combat,  coinciding  with 
this  maxim,  flattered  and  gratified  these  passions.  Every 
man  was  the  guardian  of  his  own  honor  and  of  his  own 
life ;  the  justice  of  his  cause,  as  well  as  his  future  repu- 
tation, depended  on  his  own  courage  and  prowess. 
This  mode  of  decision  was  considered,  accordingly,  as 
one  of  the  happiest  efforts  of  wise  policy ;  and  as  soon 
as  it  was  introduced,  all  the  forms  of  trial,  by  fire  or 
water,  and  other  superstitious  experiments,  fell  into 
disuse,  or  were  employed  only  in  controversies  between 
persons  of  inferior  rank.  As  it  was  the  privilege  of  a 
gentleman  to  claim  the  trial  by  combat,  it  was  quickly 
authorized  over  all  Europe,  and  received  in  every 
country  with  equal  satisfaction.  Not  only  questions 
concerning  uncertain  or  contested  facts,  but  general 
and  abstract  points  in  law,  were  determined  by  the 
issue  of  a  combat ;  and  the  latter  was  deemed  a  method 
c* 


5 8  A    VIEW  OF   THE 

of  discovering  truth  more  liberal,  as  well  as  more  satis- 
factory, than  that  by  investigation  and  argument.  Not 
only  might  parties  whose  minds  were  exasperated  by 
the  eagerness  and  the  hostility  of  opposition  defy  their 
antagonist  and  require  him  to  make  good  his  charge  or 
to  prove  his  innocence  with  his  sword,  but  witnesses 
who  had  no  interest  in  the  issue  of  the  question, 
though  called  to  declare  the  truth  by  laws  which 
ought  to  have  afforded  them  protection,  were  equally 
exposed  to  the  danger  of  a  challenge,  and  equally 
bound  to  assert  the  veracity  of  their  evidence  by  dint 
of  arms.  To  complete  the  absurdities  of  this  military 
jurisprudence,  even  the  character  of  a  judge  was  not 
sacred  from  its  violence.  Any  one  of  the  parties 
might  interrupt  a  judge  when  about  to  deliver  his 
opinion  ;  might  accuse  him  of  iniquity  and  corruption 
in  the  most  reproachful  terms,  and,  throwing  down  his 
gauntlet,  might  challenge  him  to  defend  his  integrity 
in  the  field ;  nor  could  he,  without  infamy,  refuse  to 
accept  the  defiance,  or  decline  to  enter  the  lists  against 
such  an  adversary. 

Thus  the  form  of  trial  by  combat,  like  other  abuses, 
spread  gradually,  and  extended  to  all  persons,  and 
almost  to  all  cases.  Ecclesiastics,  women,  minors, 
superannuated  and  infirm  persons,  who  could  not  with 
decency  or  justice  be  compelled  to  take  arms  or  to 
maintain  their  own  cause,  were  obliged  to  produce 
champions,  who  offered  from  affection,  or  were  en- 
gaged by  rewards,  to  fight  their  battles.  The  solemni- 
ties of  a  judicial  combat  were  such  as  were  natural  in 
an  action  which  was  considered  both  as  a  formal  appeal 
to  God  and  as  the  final  decision  of  questions  of  the 


STATE    OF  EUROPE. 


59 


highest  moment.  Every  circumstance  relating  to  them 
was  regulated  by  the  edicts  of  princes,  and  explained 
in  the  comments  of  lawyers,  with  a  minute  and  even 
superstitious  accuracy.  Skill  in  these  laws  and  rights 
was  frequently  the  only  science  of  which  warlike  nobles 
boasted,  or  which  they  were  ambitious  to  attain.56 

By  this  barbarous  custom,  the  natural  course  of  pro- 
ceeding, both  in  civil  and  criminal  questions,  was 
entirely  perverted.  Force  usurped  the  place  of  equity 
in  courts  of  judicature,  and  justice  was  banished  from 
her  proper  mansion.  Discernment,  learning,  integrity, 
were  qualities  less  necessary  to  a  judge  than  bodily 
strength  and  dexterity  in  the  use  of  arms.  Daring 
courage  and  superior  vigor  or  address  were  of  more 
moment  towards  securing  the  favorable  issue  of  a  suit 
than  the  equity  of  a  cause  or  the  clearness  of  the 
evidence.  Men,  of  course,  applied  themselves  to  cul- 
tivate the  talents  which  they  found  to  be  of  greatest 
utility.  ,  As  strength  of  body  and  address  in  arms  were 
no  less  requisite  in  those  lists  which  they  were  obliged 
to  enter  in  defence  of  their  private  rights,  than  in  the 
field  of  battle,  where  they  met  the  enemies  of  their 
country,  it  became  the  great  object  of  education,  as 
well  as  the  chief  employment  of  life,  to  acquire  these 
martial  accomplishments.  The  administration  of  jus- 
tice, instead  of  accustoming  men  to  listen  to  the  voice 
of  equity  or  to  reverence  the  decisions  of  law,  added 
to  the  ferocity  of  their  manners,  and  taught  them  to 
consider  force  as  the  great  arbiter  of  right  and  wrong. 

56  See  a  curious  discourse  concerning  the  laws  of  judicial  combat, 
by  Thomas  of  Woodstock,  duke  of  Gloucester,  uncle  to  Richard  II., 
in  Spelman's  Glossar.,  voc.  Campus. 


60  A    VIEW  OF   THE 

These  pernicious  effects  of  the  trial  by  combat  were 
so  obvious  that  they  did  not  altogether  escape  the  view 
of  the  unobserving  age  in  which  it  was  introduced.  The 
clergy,  from  the  beginning,  remonstrated  against  it,  as 
repugnant  to  the  spirit  of  Christianity  and  subversive 
of  justice  and  order.57  But  the  maxims  and  passions 
which  favored  it  had  taken  such  hold  of  the  minds  of 
men  that  they  disregarded  admonitions  and  censures 
which  on  other  occasions  would  have  struck  them  with 
terror.  The  evil  was  too  great  and  inveterate  to  yield 
to  that  remedy,  and,  continuing  to  increase,  the  civil 
power  at  length  found  it  necessary  to  interpose.  Con- 
scious, however,  of  their  own  limited  authority,  mon- 
archs  proceeded  with  caution,  and  their  first  attempts 
to  restrain  or  to  set  any  bounds  to  this  practice  were 
extremely  feeble.  One  of  the  earliest  restrictions  of 
this  practice  which  occurs  in  the  history  of  Europe  is 
that  of  Henry  I.  of  England.  It  extended  no  farther 
than  to  prohibit  the  trial  by  combat  in  questions  con- 
cerning property  of  small  value.58  Louis  VII.  of  France 
imitated  his  example,  and  issued  an  edict  to  the  same 
effect.59  St.  Louis,  whose  ideas  as  a  legislator  were  far 
superior  to  those  of  his  age,  endeavored  to  introduce  a 
more  perfect  jurisprudence,  and  to  substitute  the  trial 
by  evidence  in  place  of  that  by  combat;  but  his  regu- 
lations with  respect  to  this  were  confined  to  his  own 
domains ;  for  the  great  vassals  of  the  crown  possessed 
such  independent  authority,  and  were  so  fondly  attached 
to  the  ancient  practice,  that  he  had  not  power  to  venture 

57  Du  Cange,  Glossar.,  voc.  Duellum,  vol.  ii.  p.  1675. 
s8  Brussel,  Usage  des  Fiefs,  vol.  ii.  p.  962. 
59  Ordon.,  torn.  i.  p.  16. 


STATE    OF  EUROPE.  6 1 

to  extend  it  to  the  whole  kingdom.  Some  barons  vol- 
untarily adopted  his  regulations.  The  spirit  of  courts 
of  justice  became  averse  to  the  mode  of  decision  by 
combat,  and  discouraged  it  on  every  occasion.  The 
nobles,  nevertheless,  thought  it  so  honorable  to  depend 
for  the  security  of  their  lives  and  fortunes  on  their  own 
courage  alone,  and  contended  with  so  much  vehemence 
for  the  preservation  of  this  favorite  privilege  of  their 
order,  that  the  successors  of  St.  Louis,  unable  to  oppose 
and  afraid  of  offending  such  powerful  subjects,  were 
obliged  not  only  to  tolerate  but  to  authorize  the  practice 
which  he  had  attempted  to  abolish.60  In  other  countries 
of  Europe,  efforts  equally  zealous  were  employed  to 
maintain  the  established  custom,  and  similar  conces- 
sions were  extorted  from  their  respective  sovereigns. 
It  continued,  however,  to  be  an  object  of  policy  with 
every  monarch  of  abilities  or  vigor,  to  explode  the 
trial  by  combat ;  and  various  edicts  were  issued  for  this 
purpose.  But  the  observation  which  was  made  con- 
cerning the  right  of  private  war  is  equally  applicable 
to  the  mode  of  trial  under  review.  No  custom,  how 
absurd  soever  it  may  be,  if  it  has  subsisted  long,  or 
derived  its  source  from  the  manners  and  prejudices  of 
the  age  in  which  it  prevails,  was  ever  abolished  by  the 
bare  promulgation  of  laws  and  statutes.  The  senti- 
ments of  the  people  must  change,  or  some  new  power 
sufficient  to  counteract  the  prevalent  custom  must  be 
introduced.  Such  a  change  accordingly  took  place 
in  Europe,  as  science  gradually  increased  and  society 
advanced  towards  more  perfect  order.  In  proportion 
as  the  prerogative  of  princes  extended  and  came  to 

60  Ordon.,  torn.  i.  pp.  328,  390,  435. 
Charles.— Vol..  T.  6 


62  A   VIEW  OF  THE 

acquire  new  force,  a  power  interested  in  suppressing 
every  practice  favorable  to  the  independence  of  the 
nobles  was  introduced.  The  struggle,  nevertheless, 
subsisted  for  several  centuries :  sometimes  the  new 
regulations  and  ideas  seemed  to  gain  ground ;  some- 
times ancient  habits  recurred ;  and  though,  upon  the 
whole,  the  trial  by  combat  went  more  and  more  into 
disuse,  yet  instances  of  it  occur  as  late  as  the  sixteenth 
century,  in  the  history  both  of  France  and  of  England. 
In  proportion  as  it  declined,  the  regular  administration 
of  justice  was  restored,  the  proceedings  of  courts  were 
directed  by  known  laws,  the  study  of  these  became  an 
object  of  attention  to  judges,  and  the  people  of  Europe 
advanced  fast  towards  civility  when  this  great  cause  of 
the  ferocity  of  their  manners  was  removed.61 

3.  By  authorizing  the  right  of  appeal  from  the  courts 
of  the  barons  to  those  of  the  king,  and  subjecting  the 
decisions  of  the  former  to  the  review  of  the  latter,  a 
new  step,  not  less  considerable  than  those  which  I  have 
already  mentioned,  was  taken  towards  establishing  the 
regular,  consistent,  and  vigorous  administration  of  jus- 
tice. Among  all  the  encroachments  of  the  feudal  nobles 
on  the  prerogative  of  their  monarchs,  their  usurping 
the  administration  of  justice  with  supreme  authority, 
both  in  civil  and  criminal  causes,  within -the  precincts 
of  their  own  estates,  was  the  most  singular.  In  other 
nations,  subjects  have  contended  with  their  sovereigns, 
and  have  endeavored  to  extend  their  own  power  and 
privileges ;  but  in  the  history  of  their  struggles  and 
pretensions  we  discover  nothing  similar  to  this  right 
which  the  feudal  barons  claimed  and  obtained.  It  must 

6'  Note  XXII. 


STATE    OF  EUROPE.  63 

have  been  something  peculiar  in  their  genius  and  man- 
ners that  suggested  this  idea  and  prompted  them  to 
insist  on  such  a  claim.  Among  the  rude  people  who 
conquered  the  various  provinces  of  the  Roman  empire 
and  established  new  kingdoms  there,  the  passion  of 
resentment,  too  impetuous  to  bear  control,  was  per- 
mitted to  remain  almost  unrestrained  by  the  authority 
of  laws.  The  person  offended,  as  has  been  observed, 
retained  not  only  the  right  of  prosecuting  but  of  pun- 
ishing his  adversary.  To  him  it  belonged  to  inflict 
such  vengeance  as  satiated  his  rage,  or  to  accept  of  such 
satisfaction  as  appeased  it.  But  while  fierce  barbarians 
continued  to  be  the  sole  judges  in  their  own  cause, 
their  enmities  were  implacable  and  immortal :  they  set 
no  bounds  either  to  the  degree  of  their  vengeance  or 
to  the  duration  of  their  resentment.  The  excesses 
which  this  occasioned  proved  so  destructive  of  peace 
and  order  in  society  as  to  render  it  necessary  to  devise 
some  remedy.  At  first  recourse  was  had  to  arbitrators, 
who  by  persuasion  or  entreaty  prevailed  on  the  party 
offended  to  accept  of  a  fine  or  composition  from  the 
aggressor  and  to  drop  all  farther  prosecution.  But,  as 
submission  to  persons  who  had  no  legal  or  magisterial 
authority  was  altogether  voluntary,  it  became  necessary 
to  establish  judges,  with  power  sufficient  to  enforce 
their  own  decisions.  The  leader  whom  they  were 
accustomed  to  follow  and  to  obey,  whose  courage  they 
respected  and  in  whose  integrity  they  placed  confi- 
dence, was  the  person  to  whom  a  martial  people  natu- 
rally committed  this  important  prerogative.  Every 
chieftain  was  the  commander  of  his  tribe  in  war,  and 
their  judge  in  peace.  Every  baron  led  his  vassals  to 


64  A    VIEW  OF  THE 

the  field,  and  administered  justice  to  them  in  his  hall. 
The  high-spirited  dependants  would  not  have  recog- 
nized any  other  authority  or  have  submitted  to  any 
other  jurisdiction.  But  in  times  of  turbulence  and 
violence  the  exercise  of  this  new  function  was  attended 
not  only  with  trouble,  but  with  danger.  No  person 
could  assume  the  character  of  a  judge  if  he  did  not 
possess  power  sufficient  to  protect  the  one  party  from 
the  violence  of  private  revenge  and  to  compel  the 
other  to  accept  of  such  reparation  as  he  enjoined.  In 
consideration  of  the  extraordinary  efforts  which  this 
office  required,  judges,  besides  the  fine  which  they  ap- 
pointed to  be  paid  as  a  compensation  to  the  person  or 
family  who  had  been  injured,  levied  an  additional  sum 
as  a  recompense  for  their  own  labor ;  and  in  all  the 
feudal  kingdoms  the  latter  was  not  only  as  precisely 
ascertained,  but  as  regularly  exacted,  as  the  former. 

Thus,  by  the  natural  operation  of  circumstances  pecu- 
liar to  the  manners  or  political  state  of  the  feudal  nations, 
separate  and  territorial  jurisdictions  came  not  only  to 
be  established  in  every  kingdom,  but  were  established 
in  such  a  way  that  the  interest  of  the  barons  concurred 
with  their  ambition  in  maintaining  and  extending  them. 
It  was  not  merely  a  point  of  honor  with  the  feudal  nobles 
to  dispense  justice  to  their  vassals,  but  from  the  exercise 
of  that  power  arose  one  capital  branch  of  their  revenue, 
and  the  emoluments  of  their  courts  were  frequently  the 
main  support  of  their  dignity.  It  was  with  infinite 
zeal  that  they  asserted  and  defended  this  high  privilege 
of  their  order.  By  this  institution,  however,  every 
kingdom  in  Europe  was  split  into  as  many  separate 
principalities  as  it  contained  powerful  barons.  Their 


STATE    OF  EUROPE.  65 

vassals,  whether  in  peace  or  in  war,  were  hardly  sensible 
of  an  authority  but  that  of  their  immediate  superior  lord. 
They  felt  themselves  subject  to  no  other  command.  They 
were  amenable  to  no  other  jurisdiction.  The  ties  which 
linked  together  these  smaller  confederacies  became  close 
and  firm ;  the  bonds  of  public  union  relaxed,  or  were  dis- 
solved. The  nobles  strained  their  invention  in  devising 
regulations  which  tended  to  ascertain  and  perpetuate  this 
distinction.  In  order  to  guard  against  any  appearance 
of  subordination  in  their  courts  to  those  of  the  crown, 
they  frequently  constrained  their  monarchs  to  prohibit 
the  royal  judges  from  entering  their  territories  or  from 
claiming  any  jurisdiction  there ;  and  if,  either  through 
mistake  or  from  the  spirit  of  encroachment,  any  royal 
judge  ventured  to  extend  his  authority  to  the  vassals  of 
a  baron,  they  might  plead  their  right  of  exemption,  and 
the  lord  of  whom  they  held  could  not  only  rescue  them 
out  of  his  hands,  but  was  entitled  to  legal  reparation  for 
the  injury  and  affront  offered  to  him.  The  jurisdiction 
of  the  royal  judges  scarcely  reached  beyond  the  narrow 
limits  of  the  king's  demesnes.  Instead  of  a  regular 
gradation  of  courts,  all  acknowledging  the  authority  of 
the  same  general  laws  and  looking  up  to  these  as  the 
guides  of  their  decisions,  there  were  in  every  feudal 
kingdom  a  number  of  independent  tribunals,  the  pro- 
ceedings of  which  were  directed  by  local  customs  and 
contradictory  forms.  The  collision  of  jurisdiction 
among  these  different  courts  often  retarded  the  execu- 
tion of  justice  :  the  variety  and  caprice  of  their  modes 
of  procedure  must  have  forever  kept  the  administration 
of  it  from  attaining  any  degree  of  uniformity  or  per- 
fection. 

6* 


66  A    VIEW  OF  THE 

All  the  monarchs  of  Europe  perceived  these  encroach- 
ments on  their  jurisdiction,  and  bore  them  with  im- 
patience. But  the  usurpations  of  the  nobles  were  so 
firmly  established,  and  the  danger  of  endeavoring  to 
overturn  them  by  open  force  was  so  manifest,  that  kings 
were  obliged  to  remain  satisfied  with  attempts  to  under- 
mine them.  Various  expedients  were  employed  for 
this  purpose,  each  of  which  merits  attention,  as  they 
mark  the  progress  of  law  and  equity  in  the  several 
kingdoms  of  Europe.  At  first,  princes  endeavored  to 
circumscribe  the  jurisdiction  of  the  barons,  by  con- 
tending that  they  ought  to  take  cognizance  only  of 
smalle*r  offences,  reserving  those  of  greater  moment, 
under  the  appellation  of  pleas  of  the  crown  and  royal 
causes,  to  be  tried  in  the  king's  courts.  This,  however, 
affected  only  the  barons  of  inferior  note;  the  more 
powerful  nobles  scorned  such  a  distinction,  and  not 
only  claimed  unlimited  jurisdiction,  but  obliged  their 
sovereigns  to  grant  them  charters  conveying  or  recog- 
nizing this  privilege  in  the  most  ample  form.  The 
attempt,  nevertheless,  was  productive  of  some  good 
consequences,  and  paved  the  way  for  more.  It  turned 
the  attention  of  men  towards  a  jurisdiction  distinct 
from  that  of  the  baron  whose  vassals  -they  were ;  it 
accustomed  them  to  the  pretensions  of  superiority 
which  the  crown  claimed  over  territorial  judges,  and 
taught  them,  when  oppressed  by  their  own  superior 
lord,  to  look  up  to  their  sovereign  as  their  protector. 
This  facilitated  the  introduction  of  appeals,  by  which 
princes  brought  the  decisions  of  the  barons'  courts 
under  the  review  of  the  royal  judges.  While  trial  by 
combat  subsisted  in  full  vigor,  no  point  decided  accord- 


STATE    OF  EUROPE.  67 

ing  to  that  mode  could  be  brought  under  the  review  of 
another  court.  It  had  been  referred  to  the  judgment 
of  God ;  the  issue  of  battle  had  declared  his  will ;  and 
it  would  have  been  impious  to  have  called  in  question 
the  equity  of  the  divine  decision.  But  as  soon  as  that 
barbarous  custom  began  to  fall  into  disuse,  princes  en- 
couraged the  vassals  of  the  barons  to  sue  for  redress 
by  appealing  to  the  royal  courts.  The  progress  of  this 
practice,  however,  was  slow  and  gradual.  The  first 
instances  of  appeals  were  on  account  of  the  delay  or 
the  refusal  of  justice  in  the  barons'  court ;  and,  as  these 
were  countenanced  by  the  ideas  of  subordination  in 
the  feudal  constitution,  the  nobles  allowed  them  to  be 
introduced  without  much  opposition.  But  when  these 
were  followed  by  appeals  on  account  of  the  injustice  or 
iniqtiity  of  the  sentence,  the  nobles  then  began  to  be 
sensible  that  if  this  innovation  became  general  the 
shadow  of  power  alone  would  remain  in  their  hands, 
and  all  real  authority  and  jurisdiction  would  centre  in 
those  courts  which  possessed  the  right  of  review.  They 
instantly  took  the  alarm,  remonstrated  against  the  en- 
croachment, and  contended  boldly  for  their  ancient 
privileges.  But  the  monarchs  in  the  different  king- 
doms of  Europe  pursued  their  plan  with  steadiness  and 
prudence.  Though  forced  to  suspend  their  operations 
on  some  occasions,  and  seemingly  to  yield  when  any 
formidable  confederacy  of  their  vassals  united  against 
them,  they  resumed  their  measures  as  soon  as  they  ob- 
served the  nobles  to  be  remiss  or  feeble,  and  pushed 
them  with  vigor.  They  appointed  the  royal  courts, 
which  originally  were  ambulatory  and  irregular  with 
respect  to  their  times  of  meeting,  to  be  held  in  a  fixed 


68  A    VIEW  OF   THE 

place  and  at  stated  seasons.  They  were  solicitous  to 
name  judges  of  more  distinguished  abilities  than  such 
as  usually  presided  in  the  courts  of  barons.  They 
added  dignity  to  their  character  and  splendor  to  their 
assemblies.  They  labored  to  render  their  forms  regu- 
lar and  their  decrees  consistent.  Such  judicatories 
became,  of  course,  the  objects  of  public  confidence  as 
well  as  veneration.  The  people,  relinquishing  the  tri- 
bunals of  their  lords,  were  eager  to  bring  every  subject 
of  contest  under  the  more  equal  and  discerning  eye  of 
those  whom  their  sovereign  had  chosen  to  give  judg- 
ment in  his  name.  Thus  kings  became  once  more  the 
heads  of  the  community,  and  the  dispensers  of  justice 
to  their  subjects.  The  barons,  in  some  kingdoms, 
ceased  to  exercise  their  right  of  jurisdiction,  because 
it  sunk  into  contempt ;  in  others  it  was  circumscribed 
by  such  regulations  as  rendered  it  innocent,  or  it  was 
entirely  abolished  by  express  statutes.  Thus  the  ad- 
ministration of  justice,  taking  its  rise  from  one  source 
and  following  one  direction,  held  its  course  in  every 
state  with  more  uniformity  and  with  greater  force.62 

VI.  The  forms  and  maxims  of  the  canon  law,  which 
were  become  universally  respectable,  from  their  au- 
thority in  the  spiritual  courts,  contributed  not  a  little 
towards  those  improvements  in  jurisprudence  which  I 
have  enumerated.  If  we  consider  the  canon  law  po- 
litically, and  view  it  either  as  a  system  framed  on 
purpose  to  assist  the  clergy  in  usurping  powers  and 
jurisdiction  no  less  repugnant  to  the  nature  of  their 
function  than  inconsistent  with  the  order  of  govern- 
ment, or  as  the  chief  instrument  in  establishing  the 

fe  Note  XXIII. 


STATE    OF  EUROPE.  69 

dominion  of  the  popes,  which  shook  the  throne  and 
endangered  the  liberties  of  every  kingdom  in  Europe, 
we  must  pronounce  it  one  of  the  most  formidable 
engines  ever  formed  against  the  happiness  of  civil 
society.  But  if  we  contemplate  it  merely  as  a  code  of 
laws  respecting  the  rights  and  property  of  individuals, 
and  attend  only  to  the  civil  effects  of  its  decisions 
concerning  these,  it  will  appear  in  a  different  and  a 
much  more  favorable  light.  In  ages  of  ignorance  and 
credulity  the  ministers  of  religion  are  the  objects  of 
superstitious  veneration.  When  the  barbarians  who 
overran  the  Roman  empire  first  embraced  the  Chris- 
tian faith,  they  found  the  clergy  in  possession  of  con- 
siderable power ;  and  they  naturally  transferred  to 
those  new  guides  the  profound  submission  and  rever- 
ence which  they  were  accustomed  to  yield  to  the 
priests  of  that  religion  which  they  had  forsaken.  They 
deemed  their  persons  to  be  equally  sacred  with  their 
function,  and  would  have  considered  it  as  impious  to 
subject  them  to  the  profane  jurisdiction  of  the  laity. 
The  clergy  were  not  blind  to  these  advantages  which 
the  weakness  of  mankind  afforded  them.  They  estab- 
lished courts,  in  which  every  question  relating  to  their 
own  character,  their  function,  or  their  property,  was 
tried.  They  pleaded  and  obtained  an  almost  total 
exemption  from  the  authority  of  civil  judges.  Upon 
different  pretexts,  and  by  a  multiplicity  of  artifices, 
they  communicated  this  privilege  to  so  many  persons, 
and  extended  their  jurisdiction  to  such  a  variety  of 
cases,  that  the  greater  part  of  those  affairs  which  give 
rise  to  contest  and  litigation  was  drawn  under  the 
cognizance  of  the  spiritual  courts. 


70  A    VIEW  OF  THE 

But,  in  order  to  dispose  the  laity  to  suffer  these 
usurpations  without  murmur  or  opposition,  it  was 
necessary  to  convince  them  that  the  administration  of 
justice  would  be  rendered  more  perfect  by  the  estab- 
lishment of  this  new  jurisdiction.  This  was  not  a 
difficult  undertaking  at  that  period,  when  ecclesiastics 
carried  on  their  encroachments  with  the  greatest  suc- 
cess. That  scanty  portion  of  science  which  served  to 
guide  men  in  the  ages  of  darkness  was  almost  entirely 
engrossed  by  the  clergy.  They  alone  were  accustomed 
to  read,  to  inquire,  and  to  reason.  Whatever  knowl- 
edge of  ancient  jurisprudence  had  been  preserved, 
either*  by  tradition,  or  in  such  books  as  had  escaped 
the  destructive  rage  of  barbarians,  was  possessed  by 
them.  Upon  the  maxims  of  that  excellent  system  they 
founded  a  code  of  laws  consonant  to  the  great  princi- 
ples of  equity.  Being  directed  by  fixed  and  known 
rules,  the  forms  of  their  courts  were  ascertained,  and 
their  decisions  became  uniform  and  consistent.  Nor 
did  they  want  authority  sufficient  to  enforce  their 
sentences.  Excommunication  and  other  ecclesiastical 
censures  were  punishments  more  formidable  than  any 
that  civil  judges  could  inflict  in  support  of  their 
decrees. 

It  is  not  surprising,  then,  that  ecclesiastical  juris- 
prudence should  become  such  an  object  of  admiration 
and  respect  that  exemption  from  civil  jurisdiction  was 
courted  as  a  privilege  and  conferred  as  a  reward.  It  is 
not  surprising  that,  even  to  a  rude  people,  the  maxims 
of  the  canon  law  should  appear  more  equal  and  just 
than  those  of  the  ill-digested  jurisprudence  which  di- 
rected all  proceedings  in  civil  courts.  According  to 


STATE    OF  EUROPE.  71 

the  latter,  the  differences  between  contending  barons 
were  terminated,  as  in  a  state  of  nature,  by  the  sword ; 
according  to  the  former,  every  matter  was  subjected  to 
the  decision  of  laws.  The  one,  by  permitting  judicial 
combats,  left  chance  and  force  to  be  arbiters  of  right 
or  wrong,  of  truth  or  falsehood ;  the  other  passed 
judgment  with  respect  to  these  by  the  maxims  of 
equity  and  the  testimony  of  witnesses.  Any  error  or 
iniquity  in  a  sentence  pronounced  by  a  baron  to  whom 
feudal  jurisdiction  belonged  was  irremediable,  because 
originally  it  was  subject  to  the  review  of  no  superior 
tribunal ;  the  ecclesiastical  law  established  a  regular 
gradation  of  courts,  through  all  which  a  cause  might 
be  carried  by  appeal,  until  it  was  determined  by  that 
authority  which  was  held  to  be  supreme  in  the  Church. 
Thus  the  genius  and  principles  of  the  canon  law  pre- 
pared men  for  approving  those  three  great  alterations 
in  the  feudal  jurisprudence  which  I  have  mentioned. 
But  it  was  not  with  respect  to  these  points  alone  that 
the  canon  law  suggested  improvements  beneficial  to 
society.  Many  of  the  regulations  now  deemed  the  bar- 
riers of  personal  security  or  the  safeguards  of  private 
property  are  contrary  to  the  spirit  and  repugnant  to 
the  maxims  of  the  civil  jurisprudence  known  in  Europe 
during  several  centuries,  and  were  borrowed  from  the 
rules  and  practice  of  the  ecclesiastical  courts.  By 
observing  the  wisdom  and  equity  of  the  decisions  in 
these  courts,  men  began  to  perceive  the  necessity  either 
of  deserting  the  martial  tribunals  of  the  barons,  or  of 
attempting  to  reform  them.63 

VII.  The  revival  of  the  knowledge  and  study  of  the 

63  Note  XXIV. 


72  A    VIEW  OF   THE 

Roman  law  co-operated  with  the  causes  which  I  have 
mentioned  in  introducing  more  just  and  liberal  ideas 
concerning  the  nature  of  government  and  the  adminis- 
tration of  justice.  Among  the  calamities  which  the 
devastations  of  the  barbarians  who  broke  in  upon  the 
empire  brought  upon  mankind,  one  of  the  greatest  was 
their  overturning  the  system  of  Roman  jurisprudence, 
the  noblest  monument  of  the  wisdom  of  that  great 
people,  formed  to  subdue  and  to  govern  the  world. 
The  laws  and  regulations  of  a  civilized  community 
were  repugnant  to  the  manners  and  ideas  of  these 
fierce  invaders.  They  had  respect  to  objects  of  which 
a  rude' people  had  no  conception,  and  were  adapted  to 
a  state  of  society  with  which  they  were  entirely  un- 
acquainted. For  this  reason,  wherever  they  settled, 
the  Roman  jurisprudence  soon  sunk  into  oblivion,  and 
lay  buried  for  some  centuries  under  the  load  of  those 
institutions  which  the  inhabitants  of  Europe  dignified 
with  the  name  of  laws.  But  towards  the  middle  of  the 
twelfth  century  a  copy  of  Justinian's  Pandects  was  acci- 
dentally discovered  in  Italy.  By  that  time  the  state 
of  society  was  so  far  advanced,  and  the  ideas  of  men 
so  much  enlarged  and  improved  by  the  occurrences  of 
several  centuries  during  which  they  had  continued  in 
political  union,  that  they  were  struck  with  admiration 
of  a  system  which  their  ancestors  could  not  compre- 
hend. Though  they  had  not  hitherto  attained  such  a 
degree  of  refinement  as  to  acquire  from  the  ancients  a 
relish  for  true  philosophy  or  speculative  science,  though 
they  were  still  insensible  in  a  great  degree  to  the  beauty 
and  elegance  of  classical  composition,  they  were  suffi- 
ciently qualified  to  judge  with  respect  to  the  merit  of 


STATE    OF  EUROPE. 


73 


their  system  of  laws,  in  which  all  the  points  most 
interesting  to  mankind  were  settled  with  discernment, 
precision,  and  equity.  All  men  of  letters  studied  this 
new  science  with  eagerness;  and  within  a  few  years 
after  the  discovery  of  the  Pandects,  professors  of  civil 
law  were  appointed,  who  taught  it  publicly  in  most 
countries  of  Europe. 

The  effects  of  having  such  an  excellent  model  to 
study  and  to  imitate  were  immediately  perceived. 
Men,  as  soon  as  they  were  acquainted  with  fixed  and 
general  laws,  perceived  the  advantage  of  them,  and 
became  impatient  to  ascertain  the  principles  and  forms 
by  which  judges  should  regulate  their  decisions.  Such 
was  the  ardor  with  which  they  carried  on  an  under- 
taking of  so  great  importance  to  society  that  before 
the  close  of  the  twelfth  century  the  feudal  law  was  re- 
duced into  a  regular  system ;  the  code  of  canon  law 
was  enlarged  and  methodized  ;  and  the  loose,  uncertain 
customs  of  different  provinces  or  kingdoms  were  col- 
lected and  arranged  with  an  order  and  accuracy  acquired 
from  the  knowledge  of  Roman  jurisprudence.  In  some 
countries  of  Europe  the  Roman  law  was  adopted  as 
subsidiary  to  their  own  municipal  law,  and  all  cases  to 
which  the  latter  did  not  extend  were  decided  according 
to  the  principles  of  the  former.  In  others,  the  maxims 
as  well  as  forms  of  Roman  jurisprudence  mingled  im- 
perceptibly with  the  laws  of  the  country,  and  had  a 
powerful,  though  less  sensible,  influence  in  improving 
and  perfecting  them.64 

These  various  improvements  in  the  system  of  juris- 
prudence and  administration  of  justice  occasioned  a 

«4  Note  XXV. 
Charles. — VOL.  I. — n  7 


74 


A   VIEW  OF  THE 


change  in  manners,  of  great  importance  and  of  exten- 
sive effect.  They  gave  rise  to  a  distinction  of  profes- 
sions; they  obliged  men  to  cultivate  different  talents, 
and  to  aim  at  different  accomplishments,  in  order  to 
qualify  themselves  for  the  various  departments  and 
functions  which  became  necessary  in  society.65  Among 
uncivilized  nations  there  is  but  one  profession  honor- 
able, that  of  arms.  All  the  ingenuity  and  vigor  of  the 
human  mind  are  exerted  in  acquiring  military  skill  or 
address.  The  functions  of  peace  are  few  and  simple, 
and  require  no  particular  course  of  education  or  of 
study  as  a  preparation  for  discharging  them.  This  was 
the  state  of  Europe  during  several  centuries.  Every 
gentleman,  born  a  soldier,  scorned  any  other  occupa- 
tion ;  he  was  taught  no  science  but  that  of  war ;  even 
his  exercises  and  pastimes  were  feats  of  martial  prowess. 
Nor  did  the  judicial  character,  which  persons  of  noble 
birth  were  alone  entitled  to  assume,  demand  any  de- 
gree of  knowledge  beyond  that  which  such  untutored 
soldiers  possessed.  To  recollect  a  few  traditionary 
customs  which  time  had  confirmed  and  rendered  re- 
spectable, to  mark  out  the  lists  of  battle  with  due  for- 
mality, to  observe  the  issue  of  the  combat,  and  to  pro- 
nounce whether  it  had  been  conducted  according  to  the 
laws  of  arms,  included  every  thing  that  a  baron,  who 
acted  as  a  judge,  found  it  necessary  to  understand. 

But  when  the  forms  of  legal  proceedings  were  fixed, 
when  the  rules  of  decision  were  committed  to  writing 
and  collected  into  a  body,  law  became  a  science,  the 
knowledge  of  which  required  a  regular  course  of  study, 

*s  Dr.  Fergusson's  Essay  on  the  History  of  Civil  Society,  part  iv. 
sect.  i. 


STATE    OF  EUROPE.  75 

together  with  long  attention  to  the  practice  of  courts. 
Martial  and  illiterate  nobles  had  neither  leisure  nor  in- 
clination to  undertake  a  task  so  laborious,  as  well  as  so 
foreign  from  all  the  occupations  which  they  deemed 
entertaining,  or  suitable  to  their  rank.  They  gradually 
relinquished  their  places  in  courts  of  justice,  where  their 
ignorance  exposed  them  to  contempt.  They  became 
weary  of  attending  to  the  discussion  of  cases  which 
grew  too  intricate  for  them  to  comprehend.  Not  only 
the  judicial  determination  of  points  which  were  the 
subject  of  controversy,  but  the  conduct  of  all  legal 
business  and  transactions,  was  committed  to  persons 
trained  by  previous  study  and  application  to  the  knowl- 
edge of  law.  An  order  of  men  to  whom  their  fellow- 
citizens  had  daily  recourse  for  advice,  and  to  whom 
they  looked  up  for  decision  in  their  most  important 
concerns,  naturally  acquired  consideration  and  influ- 
ence in  society.  They  were  advanced  to  honors  which 
had  been  considered  hitherto  as  the  peculiar  rewards 
of  military  virtue.  They  were  intrusted  with  offices 
of  the  highest  dignity  and  most  extensive  power.  Thus 
another  profession  than  that  of  arms  came  to  be  intro- 
duced among  the  laity,  and  was  reputed  honorable. 
The  functions  of  civil  life  were  attended  to.  The 
talents  requisite  for  discharging  them  were  cultivated. 
A  new  road  was  opened  to  wealth  and  eminence.  The 
arts  and  virtues  of  peace  were  placed  in  their  proper 
rank  and  received  their  due  recompense.66 

VIII.  While  improvements  so  important  with  respect 
to  the  state  of  society  and  the  administration  of  justice 
gradually  made  progress  in  Europe,  sentiments  more 

««  Note  XXVI. 


7 6  A    VIEW  OF   THE 

liberal  and  generous  had  begun  to  animate  the  nobles. 
These  were  inspired  by  the  spirit  of  chivalry,  which, 
though  considered,  commonly,  as  a  wild  institution, 
the  effect  of  caprice  and  the  source  of  extravagance, 
arose  naturally  from  the  state  of  society  at  that  period, 
and  had  a  very  serious  influence  in  refining  the  manners 
of  the  European  nations.  The  feudal  state  was  a  state 
of  almost  perpetual  war,  rapine,  and  anarchy,  during 
which  the  weak  and  unarmed  were  exposed  to  insults 
or  injuries.  The  power  of  the  sovereign  was  too  limited 
to  prevent  these  wrongs,  and  the  administration  of 
justice*  too  feeble  to  redress  them.  The  most  effectual 
protection  against  violence  and  oppression  was  often 
found  to  be  that  which  the  valor  and  generosity  of 
private  persons  afforded.  The  same  spirit  of  enter- 
prise which  had  prompted  so  many  gentlemen  to  take 
arms  in  defence  of  the  oppressed  pilgrims  in  Palestine 
incited  others  to  declare  themselves  the  patrons  and 
avengers  of  injured  innocence  at  home.  When  the 
final  reduction  of  the  Holy  Land  under  the  dominion 
of  infidels  put  an  end  to  these  foreign  expeditions,  the 
latter  was  the  only  employment  left  for  the  activity  and 
courage  of  adventurers.  To  check  the  insolence  of 
overgrown  oppressors,  to  rescue  the  helpless  from  cap- 
tivity, to  protect  or  to  avenge  women,  orphans,  and 
ecclesiastics,  who  could  not  bear  arms  in  their  own 
defence,  to  redress  wrongs,  and  to  remove  grievances, 
were  deemed  acts  of  the  highest  prowess  and  merit. 
Valor,  humanity,  courtesy,  justice,  honor,  were  the 
characteristic  qualities  of  chivalry.  To  these  was  added 
religion,  which  mingled  itself  with  every  passion  and 
institution  during  the  Middle  Ages,  and,  by  infusing  a 


STATE    OF  EUROPE. 


77 


large  proportion  of  enthusiastic  zeal,  gave  them  such 
force  as  carried  them  to  romantic  excess.  Men  were 
trained  to  knighthood  by  a  long  previous  discipline ; 
they  were  admitted  into  the  order  by  solemnities  no 
less  devout  than  pompous ;  every  person  of  noble  birth 
courted  that  honor ;  it  was  deemed  a  distinction  supe- 
rior to  royalty ;  and  monarchs  were  proud  to  receive  it 
from  the  hands  of  private  gentlemen. 

This  singular  institution,  in  which  valor,  gallantry, 
and  religion  were  so  strangely  blended,  was  wonder- 
fully adapted  to  the  taste  and  genius  of  martial  nobles ; 
and  its  effects  were  soon  visible  in  their  manners.  War 
was  carried  on  with  less  ferocity,  when  humanity  came 
to  be  deemed  the  ornament  of  knighthood  no  less  than 
courage.  More  gentle  and  polished  manners  were  in- 
troduced, when  courtesy  was  recommended  as  the  most 
amiable  of  knightly  virtues.  Violence  and  oppression 
decreased,  when  it  was  reckoned  meritorious  to  check 
and  to  punish  them.  A  scrupulous  adherence  to  truth, 
with  the  most  religious  attention  to  fulfil  every  engage- 
ment, became  the  distinguishing  characteristic  of  a 
gentleman,  because  chivalry  was  regarded  as  the  school 
of  honor  and  inculcated  the  most  delicate  sensibility 
with  respect  to  those  points.  The  admiration  of  these 
qualities,  together  with  the  high  distinctions  and  pre- 
rogatives conferred  on  knighthood  in  every  part  of 
Europe,  inspired  persons  of  noble  birth  on  some  occa- 
sions with  a  species  of  military  fanaticism,  and  led 
them  to  extravagant  enterprises.  But  they  deeply  im- 
printed on  their  minds  the  principles  of  generosity  and 
honor.  These  were  strengthened  by  every  thing  that 
can  affect  the  senses  or  touch  the  heart.  The  wild 
7* 


7  8  A    VIEW  OF   THE 

exploits  of  those  romantic  knights  who  sallied  forth  in 
quest  of  adventures  are  well  known,  and  have  been 
treated  with  proper  ridicule.  The  political  and  per- 
manent effects  of  the  spirit  of  chivalry  have  been  less 
observed.  Perhaps  the  humanity  which  accompanies 
all  the  operations  of  war,  the  refinements  of  gallantry, 
and  the  point  of  honor,  the  three  chief  circumstances 
which  distinguish  modern  from  ancient  manners,  may 
be  ascribed  in  a  great  measure  to  this  institution,  which 
has  appeared  whimsical  to  superficial  observers,  but  by 
its  effects  has  proved  of  great  benefit  to  mankind.  The 
sentiments  which  chivalry  inspired  had  a  wonderful 
influence  on  manners  and  conduct  during  the  twelfth, 
thirteenth,  fourteenth,  and  fifteenth  centuries.  They 
were  so  deeply  rooted  that  they  continued  to  operate 
after  the  vigor  and  reputation  of  the  institution  itself 
began  to  decline.  Some  considerable  transactions 
recorded  in  the  following  history  resemble  the  adven- 
turous exploits  of  chivalry  rather  than  the  well-regu- 
lated operations  of  sound  policy.  Some  of  the  most 
eminent  personages  whose  characters  will  be  deline- 
ated were  strongly  tinctured  with  this  romantic  spirit. 
Francis  I.  was  ambitious  to  distinguish  himself  by  all 
the  qualities  of  an  accomplished  knight,  and  endeavored 
to  imitate  the  enterprising  genius  of  chivalry  in  war,  as 
well  as  its  pomp  and  courtesy  during  peace.  The  fame 
which  the  French  monarch  acquired  by  these  splendid 
actions  so  far  dazzled  his  more  temperate  rival  that  he 
departed  on  some  occasions  from  his  usual  prudence 
and  moderation,  and  emulated  Francis  in  deeds  of 
prowess  or  of  gallantry.67 

6?  Note  XXVII. 


STATE    OF  EUROPE.  79 

IX.  The  progress  of  science  and  the  cultivation  of 
literature  had  considerable  effect  in  changing  the 
manners  of  the  European  nations  and  introducing  that 
civility  and  refinement  by  which  they  are  now  distin- 
guished. At  the  time  when  their  empire  was  over- 
turned, the  Romans,  though  they  had  lost  that  correct 
taste  which  has  rendered  the  productions  of  their  an- 
cestors standards  of  excellence  and  models  of  imitation 
for  succeeding  ages,  still  preserved  their  love  of  letters 
and  cultivated  the  arts  with  great  ardor.  But  rude 
barbarians  were  so  far  from  being  struck  with  any 
admiration  of  these  unknown  accomplishments  that 
they  despised  them.  They  were  not  arrived  at  that 
state  of  society  when  those  faculties  of  the  human 
mind  which  have  beauty  and  elegance  for  their  objects 
begin  to  unfold  themselves.  They  were  strangers  to 
most  of  those  wants  and  desires  which  are  the  parents 
of  ingenious  invention  ;  and,  as  they  did  not  compre- 
hend either  the  merit  or  utility  of  the  Roman  arts, 
they  destroyed  the  monuments  of  them,  with  an  in- 
dustry not  inferior  to  that  which  their  posterity  have 
since  studied  to  preserve  or  to  recover  them.  The 
convulsions  occasioned  by  the  settlement  of  so  many 
unpolished  tribes  in  the  empire,  the  frequent  as  well  as 
violent  revolutions  in  every  kingdom  which  they  estab- 
lished, together  with  the  interior  defects  in  the  form 
of  government  which  they  introduced,  banished  secu- 
rity and  leisure,  prevented  the  growth  of  taste  or  the 
culture  of  science,  and  kept  Europe,  during  several 
centuries,  in  that  state  of  ignorance  which  has  been 
already  described.  But  the  events  and  institutions 
which  I  have  enumerated  produced  great  alterations 


8o  A    VIEW  OF  THE 

in  society.  As  soon  as  their  operation,  in  restoring 
liberty  and  independence  to  one  part  of  the  commu- 
nity, began  to  be  felt,  as  soon  as  they  began  to  com- 
municate to  all  the  members  of  society  some  taste  of 
the  advantages  arising  from  commerce,  from  public 
order,  and  from  personal  security,  the  human  mind 
became  conscious  of  powers  which  it  did  not  formerly 
perceive,  and  fond  of  occupations  or  pursuits  of  which 
it  was  formerly  incapable.  Towards  the  beginning  of 
the  twelfth  century  we  discern  the  first  symptoms  of 
its  awakening  from  that  lethargy  in  which  it  had  been 
long  sunk,  and  observe  it  turning  with  curiosity  and 
attention  towards  new  objects. 

The  first  literary  efforts,  however,  of  the  European 
nations  in  the  Middle  Ages  were  extremely  ill  directed. 
\mong  nations,  as  well  as  individuals,  the  powers  of 
imagination  attain  some  degree  of  vigor  before  the 
intellectual  faculties  are  much  exercised  in  speculative 
or  abstract  disquisition.  Men  are  poets  before  they  are 
philosophers;  they  feel  with  sensibility,  and  describe 
with  force,  when  they  have  made  but  little  progress  in 
investigation  or  reasoning.  The  age  of  Homer  and  of 
Hesiod  long  preceded  that  of  Thales  or  'of  Socrates. 
But,  unhappily  for  literature,  our  ancestors,  deviating 
from  this  course  which  nature  points  out,  plunged  at 
once  into  the  depths  of  abstruse  and  metaphysical  in- 
quiry. They  had  been  converted  to  the  Christian  faith 
soon  after  they  settled  in  their  new  conquests.  But 
they  did  not  receive  it  pure;  the  presumption  of  men 
had  added  to  the  simple  and  instructive  doctrines  of. 
Christianity  the  theories  of  a  vain  philosophy,  that 
attempted  to  penetrate  into  mysteries  and  to  decide 


STATE    OF  EUROPE.  8l 

questions  which  the  limited  faculties  of  the  human  mind 
are  unable  to  comprehend  or  to  resolve.  These  over- 
curious  speculations  were  incorporated  with  the  system 
of  religion,  and  came  to  be  considered  as  the  most  es- 
sential part  of  it.  As  soon,  then,  as  curiosity  prompted 
men  to  inquire  and  to  reason,  these  were  the  subjects 
which  first  presented  themselves  and  engaged  their 
attention.  The  scholastic  theology,  with  its  infinite 
train  of  bold  disquisitions,  and  subtile  distinctions 
concerning  points  which  are  not  the  object  of  human 
reason,  was  the  first  production  of  the  spirit  of  inquiry 
after  it  began  to  resume  some  degree  of  activity  and 
vigor  in  Europe.  It  was  not,  however,  this  circum- 
stance alone  that  gave  such  a  strong  turn  to  the  minds 
of  men,  when  they  began  again  to  exercise  talents 
which  they  had  so  long  neglected.  Most  of  the 
persons  who  attempted  to  revive  literature  in  the 
twelfth  and  thirteenth  centuries  had  received  instruc- 
tion or  derived  their  principles  of  science  from  the 
Greeks  in  the  Eastern  empire,  or  from  the  Arabians  in 
Spain  and  Africa.  Both  these  people,  acute  and  in- 
quisitive to  excess,  had  corrupted  those  sciences  which 
they  cultivated.  The  former  rendered  theology  a 
system  of  speculative  refinement  or  of  endless  contro- 
versy; the  latter  communicated  to  philosophy  a  spirit 
of  metaphysical  and  frivolous  subtlety.  Misled  by 
these  guides,  the  persons  who  first  applied  to  science 
were  involved  in  a  maze  of  intricate  inquiries.  Instead 
of  allowing  their  fancy  to  take  its  natural  range,  and 
to  produce  such  works  of  invention  .as  might  have 
improved  their  taste  and  refined  their  sentiments, — 
instead  of  cultivating  those  arts  which  embellish  human 


82  A    VIEW  OF  THE 

life  and  render  it  comfortable, — they  were  fettered  by 
authority,  they  were  led  astray  by  example,  and  wasted 
the  whole  force  of  their  genius  in  speculations  as  un- 
availing as  they  were  difficult. 

But,  fruitless  and  ill  directed  as  these  speculations 
were,  their  novelty  roused  and  their  boldness  interested 
the  human  mind.  The  ardor  with  which  men  pursued 
these  uninviting  studies  was  astonishing.  Genuine 
philosophy  was  never  cultivated,  in  any  enlightened 
age,  with  more  zeal.  Schools,  upon  the  model  of  those 
instituted  by  Charlemagne,  were  opened  in  every  ca- 
thedral, and  almost  in  every  monastery  of  note.  Col- 
leges and  universities  were  erected  and  formed  into 
communities  or  corporations,  governed  by  their  own 
laws  and  invested  with  separate  and  extensive  jurisdic- 
tion over  their  own  members.  A  regular  course  of 
studies  was  planned ;  privileges  of  great  value  were 
conferred  on  masters  and  scholars ;  academical  titles 
and  honors  of  various  kinds  were  invented  as  a  recom- 
pense for  both.  Nor  was  it  in  the  schools  alone  that 
superiority  in  science  led  to  reputation  and  authority  : 
it  became  an  object  of  respect  in  life,  and  advanced 
such  as  acquired  it  to  a  rank  of  no  inconsiderable  emi- 
nence. Allured  by  all  these  advantages,  an  incredible 
number  of  students  resorted  to  those  new  seats  of 
learning,  and  crowded  with  eagerness  into  that  new 
path  which,  was  open  to  fame  and  distinction. 

But,  how  considerable  soever  these  first  efforts  may 
appear,  there  was  one  circumstance  which  prevented 
the  effects  of  them  from  being  as  extensive  as  they 
naturally  ought  to  have  been.  All  the  languages  in 
Europe,  during  the  period  under  review,  were  bar- 


STATE    OF  EUROPE.  83 

barous;  they  were  destitute  of  elegance,  of  force,  and 
even  of  perspicuity.  No  attempt  had  been  hitherto 
made  to  improve  or  to  polish  them.  The  Latin  tongue 
was  consecrated  by  the  Church  to  religion;  custom, 
with  authority  scarcely  less  sacred,  had  appropriated  it 
to  literature.  All  the  sciences  cultivated  in  the  twelfth 
and  thirteenth  centuries  were  taught  in  Latin ;  all  books 
with  respect  to  them  were  written  in  that  language.  It 
would  have  been  deemed  a  degradation  of  any  .impor- 
tant subject  to  have  treated  of  it  in  a  modern  language. 
This  confined  science  within  a  very  narrow  circle;  the 
learned  alone  were  admitted  into  the  temple  of  knowl- 
edge ;  the  gate  was  shut  against  all  others,  who  were 
suffered  to  remain  involved  in  their  former  darkness 
and  ignorance. 

But  though  science  was  thus  prevented,  during  sev- 
eral ages,  from  diffusing  itself  through  society,  and  its 
influence  was  much  circumscribed,  the  progress  which 
it  made  may  be  mentioned,  nevertheless,  among  the 
great  causes  which  contributed  to  introduce  a  change 
of  manners  into  Europe.  The  ardent  though  ill-judged 
spirit  of  inquiry  which  I  have  described  occasioned  a 
fermentation  of  mind  that  put  ingenuity  and  invention 
in  motion  and  gave  them  vigor.  It  led  men  to  a  new 
employment  of  their  faculties,  which  they  found  to  be 
agreeable  as  well  as  interesting.  It  accustomed  them 
to  exercises  and  occupations  which  tended  to  soften 
their  manners,  and  to  give  them  some  relish  for  the 
gentle  virtues  peculiar  to  people  among  whom  science 
has  been  cultivated  with  success.68 

X.    The    progress   of   commerce    had    considerable 

«  Note  XXVIII. 


84  A    VIEW  OF   THE 

influence  in  polishing  the  manners  of  the  European 
nations,  and  in  establishing  among  them  order,  equal 
laws,  and  humanity.  The  wants  of  men  in  the  original 
and  most  simple  state  of  society  are  so  few,  and  their 
desires  so  limited,  that  they  rest  contented  with  the 
natural  productions  of  their  climate  and  soil,  or  with 
what  they  can  add  to  these  by  their  own  rude  industry. 
They  have  no  superfluities  to  dispose  of,  and  few  ne- 
cessities that  demand  a  supply.  Every  little  commu- 
nity, subsisting  on  its  own  domestic  stock  and  satisfied 
with  it,  is  either  little  acquainted  with  the  states  around 
it,  or  at  variance  with  them.  Society  and  manners 
must  be  considerably  improved,  and  many  provisions 
must  be  made  for  public  order  and  personal  security, 
before  a  liberal  intercourse  can  take  place  between 
different  nations.  We  find,  accordingly,  that  the  first 
effect  of  the  settlement  of  the  barbarians  in  the  empire 
was  to  divide  those  nations  which  the  Roman  power 
had  united.  Europe  was  broken  into  many  separate 
communities.  The  intercourse  between  these  divided 
states  ceased  almost  entirely  during  several  centuries. 
Navigation  was  dangerous  in  seas  infested  by  pirates ; 
nor  could  strangers  trust  to  a  friendly  reception  in  the 
ports  of  uncivilized  nations.  Even  between  distant 
parts  of  the  same  kingdom  the  communication  was  rare 
and  difficult.  The  lawless  rapine  of  banditti,  together 
with  the  avowed  exactions  of  the  nobles,  scarcely  less 
formidable  and  oppressive,  rendered  a  journey  of  any 
length  a  perilous  enterprise.  Fixed  to  the  spot  in 
which  they  resided,  the  greater  part  of  the  inhabitants 
of  Europe  lost,  in  a  great  measure,  the  knowledge  of 
remote  regions,  and  were  unacquainted  with  their 


STATE    OF  EUROPE.  85 

names,  their  situations,  their  climates,  and  their  com- 
modities.69 

Various  causes,  however,  contributed  to  revive  the 
spirit  of  commerce,  and  to  renew,  in  some  degree,  the 
intercourse  between  different  nations.  The  Italians, 
by  their  connection  with  Constantinople  and  other 
cities  of  the  Greek  empire,  had  preserved  in  their  own 
country  considerable  relish  for  the  precious  commodi- 
ties and  curious  manufactures  of  the  East.  They  com- 
municated some  knowledge  of  these  to  the  countries 
contiguous  to  Italy.  But  this  commerce  being  ex- 
tremely limited,  the  intercourse  which  it  occasioned 
between  different  nations  was  not  considerable.  The 
crusades,  by  leading  multitudes  from  every  corner  of 
Europe  into  Asia,  opened  a  more  extensive  communi- 
cation between  the  East  and  West,  which  subsisted  for 
two  centuries ;  and  though  the  object  of  these  expedi- 
tions was  conquest,  and  not  commerce,  though  the 
issue  of  them  proved  as  unfortunate  as  the  motives  for 
undertaking  them  were  wild  and  enthusiastic,  their 
commercial  effects,  as  hath  been  shown,  were  both 
beneficial  and  permanent.  During  the  continuance  of 
the  crusades,  the  great  cities  in  Italy,  and  in  other 
countries  of  Europe,  acquired  liberty,  and  together 
with  it  such  privileges  as  rendered  them  respectable 
and  independent  communities.  Thus,  in  every  state 
there  was  formed  a  new  order  of  citizens,  to  whom 
commerce  presented  itself  as  their  proper  object  and 
opened  to  them  a  certain  path  to  wealth  and  con- 
sideration. Soon  after  the  close  of  the  holy  war,  the 
mariner's  compass  was  invented,  which,  by  rendering 

69  Note  XXIX. 
Charles.— VOL.  I.  8 


86  A    VIEW  OF   THE. 

navigation  more  secure,  encouraged  it  to  become  more 
adventurous,  facilitated  the  communication  between  re- 
mote nations,  and  brought  them  nearer  to  each  other. 

The  Italian  states,  during  the  same  period,  estab- 
lished a  regular  commerce  with  the  East  in  the  ports 
of  Egypt,  and  drew  from  thence  all  the  rich  products 
of  the  Indies.  They  introduced  into  their  own  terri- 
tories manufactures  of  various  kinds,  and  carried  them 
on  with  great  ingenuity  and  vigor.  They  attempted 
new  arts,  and  transplanted  from  warmer  climates,  to 
which  they  had  been  hitherto  deemed  peculiar,  several 
natural  productions  which  now  furnish  the  materials 
of  a  lucrative  and  extended  commerce.  All  these 
commodities,  whether  imported  from  Asia  or  produced 
by  their  own  skill,  they  disposed  of  to  great  advantage 
among  the  other  people  of  Europe,  who  began  to  ac- 
quire some  taste  for  an  elegance  in  living  unknown  to 
their  ancestors,  or  despised  by  them.  During  the 
twelfth  and  thirteenth  centuries  the  commerce  of  Eu- 
rope was  almost  entirely  in  the  hands  of  the  Italians, 
more  commonly  known  in  those  ages  by  the  name  of 
Lombards.  Companies  or  societies  of  Lombard  mer- 
chants settled  in  every  different  kingdom.  -  They  were 
taken  under  the  immediate  protection  of  the  several 
governments.  They  enjoyed  extensive  privileges  and 
immunities.  The  operation  of  the  ancient  barbarous 
laws  concerning  strangers  was  suspended  with  respect 
to  them.  They  became  the  carriers,  the  manufacturers, 
and  the  bankers  of  all  Europe. 

While  the  Italians,  in  the  South  of  Europe,  were 
cultivating  trade  with  such  industry  and  success,  the 
commercial  spirit  awakened  in  the  North  towards  the 


STATE    OF  EUROPE.  87 

middle  of  the  thirteenth  century.  As  the  nations 
around  the  Baltic  were  at  that  time  extremely  barba- 
rous, and  infested  that  sea  with  their  piracies,  the 
cities  of  Lubec  and  Hamburg,  soon  after  they  began 
to  open  some  trade  with  these  people,  found  it  neces- 
sary to  enter  into  a  league  of  mutual  defence.  They 
derived  such  advantages  from  this  union  that  other 
towns  acceded  to  their  confederacy,  and  in  a  short 
time  eighty  of  the  most  considerable  cities  scattered 
through  those  extensive  countries  which  stretch  from 
the  bottom  of  the  Baltic  to  Cologne  on  the  Rhine 
joined  in  the  famous  Hanseatic  league,  which  became 
so  formidable  that  its  alliance  was  courted  and  its 
enmity  was  dreaded  by  the  greatest  monarchs.  The 
members  of  this  powerful  association  formed  the  first 
systematic  plan  of  commerce  known  in  the  Middle 
Ages,  and  conducted  it  by  common  laws  enacted  in 
their  general  assemblies.  They  supplied  the  rest  of 
Europe  with  naval  stores,  and  pitched  on  different 
towns,  the  most  eminent  of  which  was  at  Bruges  in 
Flanders,  where  they  established  staples  in  which  their 
commerce  was  regularly  carried  on.  Thither  the  Lom- 
bards brought  the  productions  of  India,  together  with 
the  manufactures  of  Italy,  and  exchanged  them  for  the 
more  bulky  but  not  less  useful  commodities  of  the 
North.  The  Hanseatic  merchants  disposed  of  the  car- 
goes which  they  received  from  the  Lombards  in  the 
ports  of  the  Baltic,  or  carried  them  up  the  great  rivers 
into  the  interior  parts  of  Germany. 

This  regular  intercourse  opened  between  the  nations 
in  the  North  and  South  of  Europe  made  them  sensible 
of  their  mutual  wants,  and  created  such  new  and  in- 


88  A    VIEW  OF  THE 

creasing  demands  for  commodities  of  every  kind  that  it 
excited  among  the  inhabitants  of  the  Netherlands  a 
more  vigorous  spirit  in  carrying  on  the  two  great 
manufactures  of  wool  and  flax,  which  seem  to  have 
been  considerable  in  that  country  as  early  as  the  age 
of  Charlemagne.  As  Bruges  became  the  centre  of 
communication  between  the  Lombard  and  Hanseatic 
merchants,  the  Flemings  traded  with  both  in  that  city 
to  such  extent,  as  well  as  advantage,  as  spread  among 
them  a  general  habit  of  industry,  which  long  rendered 
Flanders  and  the  adjacent  provinces  the  most  opulent, 
the  mo£t  populous,  and  best  cultivated  countries  in 
Europe. 

Struck  with  the  flourishing  state  of  these  provinces, 
of  which  he  discerned  the  true  cause,  Edward  III.  of 
England  endeavored  to  excite  a  spirit  of  industry 
among  his  own  subjects,  who,  blind  to  the  advantages 
of  their  situation,  and  ignorant  of  the  source  from 
which  opulence  was  destined  to  flow  into  their  country, 
were  so  little  attentive  to  their  commercial  interests  as 
hardly  to  attempt  those  manufactures,  the  materials  of 
which  they  furnished  to  foreigners.  By  alluring  Flem- 
ish artisans  to  settle  in  his  dominions,  as  well  as  by 
many  wise  laws  for  the  encouragement  and  regulation 
of  trade,  Edward  gave  a  beginning  to  the  woollen 
manufactures  of  England,  and  first  turned  the  active 
and  enterprising  genius  of  his  people  towards  those 
arts  which  have  raised  the  English  to  the  highest  rank 
among  commercial  nations. 

This  increase  of  commerce  and  of  intercourse  be- 
tween nations,  how  inconsiderable  soever  it  may  appear 
in  respect  of  their  rapid  and  extensive  progress  during 


STATE    OF  EUROPE.  89 

the  last  and  present  age,  seems  wonderfully  great  when 
we  compare  it  with  the  state  of  both  in  Europe  pre- 
vious to  the  twelfth  century.  It  did  not  fail  of  pro- 
ducing great  effects.  Commerce  tends  to  wear  off  those 
prejudices  which  maintain  distinction  and  animosity 
between  nations.  It  softens  and  polishes  the  manners 
of  men.  It  unites  them  by  one  of  the  strongest  of  all 
ties,  the  desire  of  supplying  their  mutual  wants.  It 
disposes  them  to  peace,  by  establishing  in  every  state 
an  order  of  citizens  bound  by  their  interests  to  be  the 
guardians  of  public  tranquillity.  As  soon  as  the  com- 
mercial spirit  acquires  vigor  and  begins  to  gain  an 
ascendant  in  any  society,  we  discover  a  new  genius  in 
its  policy,  its  alliances,  its  wars,  and  its  negotiations. 
Conspicuous  proofs  of  this  occur  in  the  history  of  the 
Italian  states,  of  the  Hanseatic  league,  and  the  cities 
of  the  Netherlands  during  the  period  under  review.  In 
proportion  as  commerce  made  its  way  into  the  differ- 
ent countries  of  Europe,  they  successively  turned  their 
attention  to  those  objects  and  adopted  those  manners 
which  occupy  and  distinguish  polished  nations.70 

7°  Note  XXX. 


SECTION   II. 

VIEW  OF  THE  PROGRESS  OF  SOCIETY  IN  EUROPE  WITH 
RESPECT  TO  THE  COMMAND  OF  THE  NATIONAL  FORCE 
REQUISITE  IN  FOREIGN  OPERATIONS. 

Improved  State  of  Society  at  the  Beginning  of  the  Fifteenth  Cen- 
tury.— The  Concentration  of  Resources  in  European  States. — The 
Power  of  Monarchs  ;  their  Revenues  and  Armies. — Affairs  of  Dif- 
ferent States  at  first  entirely  distinct.— Progress  of  Combination.— 
Loss  of  Continental  Territory  by  the  English. — Effects  upon  the 
French  Monarchy. — Growth  of  Standing  Armies,  and  of  the  Royal 
Prerogative  under  Louis  XI. — His  Example  imitated  in  England 
and  in  Spain. — The  Heiress  of  Burgundy. — Perfidious  Conduct  of 
Louis  XI.  towards  her. — Her  Marriage  with  Maximilian,  Archduke 
of  Austria. — Invasion  of  Italy  by  Charles  VIII. — The  Balance  of 
Power. — Use  of  Infantry  in  Armies. — League  of  Cambray  against 
Venice. 

SUCH  are  the  events  and  institutions  which,  by  their 
powerful  operation,  contributed  gradually  to  introduce 
regular  government  and  polished  manners  in  the  various 
nations  of  Europe.  When  we  survey  the  state  of  society, 
or  the  character  of  individuals,  at  the  opening  of  the 
fifteenth  century,  and  then  turn  back  to  view  the  con- 
dition of  both  at  the  time  when  the  barbarous  tribes 
which  overturned  the  Roman  power  completed  their 
settlement  in  their  new  conquests,  the  progress  which 
mankind  had  made  towards  order  and  refinement  will 
appear  immense. 

Government,  however,  was  still  far  from  having 
attained  that  state  in  which  extensive  monarchies  act 
(90) 


A    VIEW  OF  THE   STATE    OF  EUROPE. 


91 


with  the  united  vigor  of  the  whole  community,  or  carry 
on  great  undertakings  with  perseverance  and  success. 
Small  tribes  or  communities,  even  in  their  rudest  state, 
may  operate  in  concert  and  exert  their  utmost  force. 
They  are  excited  to  act,  not  by  the  distant  objects  or 
the  refined  speculations  which  interest  or  affect  men  in 
polished  societies,  but  by  their  present  feelings.  The 
insults  of  an  enemy  kindle  resentment ;  the  success  of 
a  rival  tribe  awakens  emulation :  these  passions  com- 
municate from  breast  to  breast,  and  all  the  members 
of  the  community,  with  united  ardor,  rush  into  the 
field  in  order  to  gratify  their  revenge  or  to  acquire 
distinction.  But  in  widely-extended  states,  such  as 
the  great  kingdoms  of  Europe  at  the  beginning  of  the 
fifteenth  century,  where  there  is  little  intercourse  be- 
tween the  distant  members  of  the  community,  and 
where  every  great  enterprise  requires  previous  concert 
and  long  preparation,  nothing  can  rouse  and  call  forth 
their  united  strength  but  the  absolute  command  of  a 
despot  or  the  powerful  influence  of  regular  policy.  Of 
the  former,  the  vast  empires  in  the  East  are  an  ex- 
ample: the  irresistible  mandate  of  the  sovereign  reaches 
the  most  remote  provinces  of  his  dominions,  and  com- 
pels whatever  number  of  his  subjects  he  is  pleased  to 
summon  to  follow  his  standard.  The  kingdoms  of 
Europe,  in  the  present  age,  are  an  instance  of  the  lat- 
ter: the  prince,  by  the  less  violent  but  no  less  effectual 
operation  of  laws  and  a  well-regulated  government,  is 
enabled  to  avail  himself  of  the  whole  force  of  his  state, 
and  to  employ  it  in  enterprises  which  require  strenuous 
and  persevering  efforts. 

But  at  the  opening  of  the  fifteenth  century  the  po- 


92 


A   VIEW  OF  THE 


litical  constitution  in  all  the  kingdoms  of  Europe  was 
very  different  from  either  of  these  states  of  govern- 
ment. The  several  monarchs,  though  they  had  some- 
what enlarged  the  boundaries  of  prerogative  by  success- 
ful encroachments  on  the  immunities  and  privileges  of 
the  nobility,  were  possessed  of  an  authority  extremely 
limited.  The  laws  and  interior  police  of  kingdoms, 
though  much  improved  by  the  various  events  and  regu- 
lations which  I  have  enumerated,  were  still  feeble  and 
imperfect.  In  every  country,  a  numerous  body  of 
nobles,  who  continued  to  be  formidable  notwithstand- 
ing the  various  expedients  employed  to  depress  them, 
watched  all  the  motions  of  their  sovereign  with  a  jeal- 
ous attention  which  set  bounds  to  his  ambition,  and 
either  prevented  his  forming  schemes  of  extensive  en- 
terprise, or  obstructed  the  execution  of  them. 

The  ordinary  revenues  of  every  prince  were  so  ex- 
tremely small  as  to  be  inadequate  to  any  great  under- 
taking. He  depended  for  extraordinary  supplies  on  the 
good  will  of  his  subjects,  who  granted  them  often  with 
a  reluctant,  and  always  with  a  sparing,  hand. 

As  the  revenues  of  princes  were  inconsiderable,  the 
armies  which  they  could  bring  into  the  field  were  unfit 
for  long  and  effectual  service.  Instead  of  being  able 
to  employ  troops  trained  to  skill  in  arms,  and  to  mili- 
tary subordination,  by  regular  discipline,  monarchs 
were  obliged  to  depend  on  such  forces  as  their  vassals 
conducted  to  their  standard  in  consequence  of  their 
military  tenures.  These,  as  they  were  bound  to  remain 
under  arms  only  for  a  short  time,  could  not  march  far 
from  their  usual  place  of  residency,  and,  being  more 
attached  to  the  lord  of  whom  they  held  than  to  the 


STATE    OF  EUROPE. 


93 


sovereign  whom  they  served,  were  often  as  much  dis- 
posed to  counteract  as  to  forward  his  schemes.  Nor 
were  they,  even  if  they  had  been  more  subject  to  the 
command  of  the  monarch,  proper  instruments  to  carry 
into  execution  any  great  and  arduous  enterprise.  The 
strength  of  an  army,  formed  either  for  conquest  or 
defence,  lies  in  infantry.  To  the  stability  and  disci- 
pline of  their  legions,  consisting  chiefly  of  infantry, 
the  Romans,  during  the  times  of  the  republic,  were 
indebted  for  their  victories ;  and  when  their  descend- 
ants, forgetting  the  institutions  which  had  led  them  to 
universal  dominion,  so  far  altered  their  military  system 
as  to  place  their  principal  confidence  in  a  numerous 
cavalry,  the  undisciplined  impetuosity  of  the  barbarous 
nations,  who  fought  mostly  on  foot,  was  sufficient,  as  I 
have  already  observed,  to  overcome  them.  These  na- 
tions, soon  after  they  settled  in  their  new  conquests, 
uninstructed  by  the  fatal  error  of  the  Romans,  relin- 
quished the  customs  of  their  ancestors,  and  converted 
the  chief  force  of  their  armies  into  cavalry.  Among 
the  Romans  this  change  was  occasioned  by  the  effemi- 
nacy of  their  troops,  who  could  not  endure  the  fatigues 
of  service  which  their  more  virtuous  and  hardy  ances- 
tors had  sustained  with  ease.  Among  the  people  who 
established  the  new  monarchies  into  which  Europe  was 
divided,  this  innovation  in  military  discipline  seems  to 
have  flowed  from  the  pride  of  the  nobles,  who,  scorn- 
ing to  mingle  with  persons  of  inferior  rank,  aimed  at 
being  distinguished  from  them  in  the  field  as  well  as 
during  peace.  The  institution  of  chivalry,  and  the  fre- 
quency of  tournaments,  in  which  knights,  in  complete 
armor,  entered  the  lists  on  horseback  with  extraordi- 


94  A    VIEW  OF  THE 

nary  splendor,  displaying  amazing  address,  force,  and 
valor,  brought  cavalry  into  still  greater  esteem.  The 
fondness  for  that  service  increased  to  such  a  degree 
that  during  the  thirteenth  and  fourteenth  centuries  the 
armies  of  Europe  were  composed  almost  entirely  of 
cavalry.  No  gentleman  would  appear  in  the  field  but 
on  horseback.  To  serve  in  any  other  manner  he  would 
have  deemed  derogatory  to  his  rank.  The  cavalry,  by 
way  of  distinction,  was  called  the  battle,  and  on  it  alone 
depended  the  fate  of  every  action.  The  infantry, 
collected  from  the  dregs  and  refuse  of  the  people,  ill 
armed  and  worse  disciplined,  was  almost  of  no  account. 
As  these  circumstances  rendered  the  operations  of 
particular  kingdoms  less  considerable  and  less  vigorous, 
so  they  long  kept  the  princes  of  Europe  from  giving 
such  attention  to  the  schemes  and  transactions  of  their 
neighbors  as  might  lead  them  to  form  any  regular  sys- 
tem of  public  security.  They  were,  of  consequence, 
prevented  from  uniting  in  confederacy,  or  from  acting 
with  concert,  in  order  to  establish  such  a  distribution 
and  balance  of  power  as  should  hinder  any  state  from 
rising  to  a  superiority  which  might  endanger  the  general 
liberty  and  independence.  During  several  centuries, 
the  nations  of  Europe  appear  to  have  considered  them- 
selves as  separate  societies,  scarcely  connected  together 
by  any  common  interest,  and  little  concerned  in  each 
other's  affairs  or  operations.  An  extensive  commerce 
did  not  afford  them  an  opportunity  of  observing  and 
penetrating  into  the  schemes  of  every  different  state. 
They  had  not  ambassadors  residing  constantly  in  every 
court,  to  watch  and  give  early  intelligence  of  all  its 
motions.  The  expectation  of  remote  advantages,  or 


STATE    OF  EUROPE.  95 

the  prospect  of  distant  and  contingent  evils,  was  not 
sufficient  to  excite  nations  to  take  arms.  Such  only  as 
were  within  the  sphere  of  immediate  danger,  and  un- 
avoidably exposed  to  injury  or  insult,  thought  them- 
selves interested  in  any  contest  or  bound  to  take  pre- 
cautions for  their  own  safety. 

Whoever  records  the  transactions  of  any  of  the  more 
considerable  European  states  during  the  two  last  cen- 
turies must  write  the  history  of  Europe.  Its  various 
kingdoms,  throughout  that  period,  have  been  formed 
into  one  great  system,  so  closely  united  that,  each  hold- 
ing a  determinate  station,  the  operations  of  one  are  so 
felt  by  all  as  to  influence  their  counsels  and  regulate 
their  measures.  But  previous  to  the  fifteenth  century, 
unless  when  vicinity  of  territory  rendered  the  occasions 
of  discord  frequent  and  unavoidable,  or  when  national 
emulation  fomented  or  embittered  the  spirit  of  hostility, 
the  affairs  of  different  countries  are  seldom  interwoven 
with  each  other.  In  each  kingdom  of  Europe  great 
events  and  revolutions  happened,  which  the  other  powers 
beheld  with  almost  the  same  indifference  as  if  they  had 
been  uninterested  spectators,  to  whom  the  effect  of 
these  transactions  could  never  extend. 

During  the  violent  struggles  between  France  and 
England,  and  notwithstanding  the  alarming  progress 
which  was  made  towards  rendering  one  prince  the 
master  of  both  these  kingdoms,  hardly  one  measure 
which  can  be  considered  as  the  result  of  a  sagacious 
and  prudent  policy  was  formed  in  order  to  guard  against 
an  event  so  fatal  to  Europe.  The  dukes  of  Burgundy 
and  Bretagne,  whom  their  situation  would  not  permit 
to  remain  neutral,  engaged,  it  is  true,  in  the  contest ; 


96  A    FIE  W  OF   THE 

but  in  taking  their  part  they  seem  rather  to  have  fol- 
lowed the  impulse  of  their  passions  than  to  have  been 
guided  by  any  just  discernment  of  the  danger  which 
threatened  themselves  and  the  tranquillity  of  Europe. 
The  other  princes,  seemingly  unaffected  by  the  alter- 
nate successes  of  the  contending  parties,  left  them  to 
decide  the  quarrel  by  themselves,  or  interposed  only 
by  feeble  and  ineffectual  negotiations. 

Notwithstanding  the  perpetual  hostilities  in  which  the 
various  kingdoms  of  Spain  were  engaged  during  several 
centuries,  and  the  successive  occurrences  which  visibly 
tended  to  unite  that  part  of  the  continent  into  one  great 
monarchy,  the  princes  of  Europe  hardly  took  any  step 
from  which  we  may  conclude  that  they  gave  a  proper 
attention  to  that  important  event.  They  permitted 
a  power  to  arise  imperceptibly,  and  to  acquire  strength 
there,  which  soon  became  formidable  to  all  its  neighbors. 

Amidst  the  violent  convulsions  with  which  the  spirit 
of  domination  in  the  see  of  Rome,  and  the  turbulent 
ambition  of  the  German  nobles,  agitated  the  empire, 
neither  the  authority  of  the  popes,  seconded  by  all 
their  artifices  and  intrigues,  nor  the  solicitations  of  the 
emperors,  could  induce  any  of  the  powerful  monarchs 
in  Europe  to  engager  in  their  quarrel,  or  to  avail  them- 
selves of  many  favorable  opportunities  of  interposing 
with  effect  and  advantage. 

This  amazing  inactivity  during  transactions  so  inter- 
esting is  not  to  be  imputed  to  any  incapacity  of  dis- 
cerning their  political  consequences.  The  power  of 
judging  with  sagacity,  and  of  acting  with  vigor,  is  the 
portion  of  men  of  every  age.  The  monarchs  who 
reigned  in  the  different  kingdoms  of  Europe,  during 


STATE    OF  EUROPE.  97 

several  centuries,  were  not  blind  to  their  particular  in- 
terest, negligent  of  the  public  safety,  or  strangers  to 
the  method  of  securing  both.  If  they  did  not  adopt 
that  salutary  system  which  teaches  modern  politicians 
to  take  the  alarm  at  the  prospect  of  distant  dangers, 
which  prompts  them  to  check  the  first  encroachments 
of  any  formidable  power,  and  which  renders  each  state 
the  guardian,  in  some  degree,  of  the  rights  and  inde- 
pendence of  all  its  neighbors,  this  was  owing  entirely 
to  such  imperfections  and  disorders  in  the  civil  govern- 
ment of  each  country  as  made  it  impossible  for  sove- 
reigns to  act  suitably  to  those  ideas  which  the  posture  of 
affairs  and  their  own  observation  must  have  suggested. 
But  during  the  course  of  the  fifteenth  century  various 
events  happened  which,  by  giving  princes  more  entire 
command  of  the  force  in  their  respective  dominions, 
rendered  their  operations  more  vigorous  and  extensive. 
In  consequence  of  this,  the  affairs  of  different  king- 
doms becoming  more  frequently  as  well  as  more  inti- 
mately connected,  they  were  gradually  accustomed  to 
act  in  concert  and  confederacy,  and  were-  insensibly 
prepared  for  forming  a  system  of  policy  in  order  to 
establish  or  to  preserve  such  a  balance  of  power  as  was 
most  consistent  with  the  general  security.  It  was  during 
the  reign  of  Charles  V.  that  the  ideas  on  which  this 
system  is  founded  first  came  to  be  fully  understood.  It 
was  then  that  the  maxims  by  which  it  has  been  uni- 
formly maintained  since  that  era  were  universally 
adopted.  On  this  account,  a  view  of  the  causes  and 
events  which  contributed  to  establish  a  plan  of  policy 
more  salutary  and  extensive  than  any  that  has  taken 
place  in  the  conduct  of  human  affairs  is  not  only  a 
Charles. — VOL.  I. — E  9 


98  A    VIEW  OF  THE 

necessary  introduction  to  the  following  work,  but  is  a 
capital  object  in  the  history  of  Europe. 

The  first  event  that  occasioned  any  considerable 
alteration  in  the  arrangement  of  affairs  in  Europe  was 
the  annexation  of  the  extensive  territories  which  Eng- 
land possessed  on  the  continent  to  the  crown  of  France. 
While  the  English  were  masters  of  several  of  the  most 
fertile  and  opulent  provinces  in  France,  and  a  great 
part  of  its  most  martial  inhabitants  was  bound  to  follow 
their  standard,  an  English  monarch  considered  himself 
rather  ^s  the  rival  than  as  the  vassal  of  the  sovereign 
of  whom  he  held.  The  kings  of  France,  circumscribed 
and  thwarted  in  their  schemes  and  operations  by  an 
adversary  no  less  jealous  than  formidable,  durst  not 
enter  upon  any  enterprise  of  importance  or  of  difficulty. 
The  English  were  always  at  hand,  ready  to  oppose  them. 
They  disputed  even  their  right  to  their  crown,  and, 
being  able  to  penetrate  with  ease  into  the  heart  of  the 
kingdom,  could  arm  against  them  those  very  hands 
which  ought  to  have  been  employed  in  their  defence. 
Timid  counsels  and  feeble  efforts  were  natural  to  mon- 
archs  in  such  a  situation.  France,  dismembered  and 
overawed,  could  not  attain  its  proper  station  in  the 
system  of  Europe.  But  the  death  of  Henry  V.  of 
England,  happily  for  France,  and  not  unfortunately  for 
his  own  country,  delivered  the  French  from  the  calam- 
ity of  having  a  foreign  master  seated  on  their  throne. 
The  weakness  of  a  long  minority,  the  dissensions  in  the 
English  court,  together  with  the  unsteady  and  languid 
conduct  which  these  occasioned,  afforded  the  French  a 
favorable  opportunity  of  recovering  the  territories  which 
they  had  lost.  The  native  valor  of  the  French  nobility, 


STATE    OF  EUROPE. 


99 


heightened  to  an  enthusiastic  confidence  by  a  supposed 
interposition  of  Heaven  in  their  behalf,  conducted  in 
the  field  by  skilful  leaders,  and  directed  in  the  cabinet 
by  a  prudent  monarch,  was  exerted  with  such  vigor  and 
success,  during  this  favorable  juncture,  as  not  only 
wrested  from  the  English  their  new  conquests,  but 
stripped  them  of  their  ancient  possessions  in  France, 
and  reduced  them  within  the  narrow  precincts  of  Calais 
and  its  petty  territory. 

As  soon  as  so  many  considerable  provinces  were 
reunited  to  their  dominions,  the  kings  of  France,  con- 
scious of  this  acquisition  of  strength,  began  to  form 
bolder  schemes  of  interior  policy  as  well  as  of  foreign 
operations.  They  immediately  became  formidable  to 
their  neighbors,  who  began  to  fix  their  attention  on 
their  measures  and  motions,  the  importance  of  which 
they  fully  perceived.  From  this  era,  France,  possessed 
of  the  advantages  which  it  derives  from  the  situation 
and  contiguity  of  its  territories,  as  well  as  from  the 
number  and  valor  of  its  people,  rose  to  new  influence 
in  Europe,  and  was  the  first  power  in  a  condition  to  give 
alarm  to  the  jealousy  or  fears  of  the  states  around  it. 

Nor  was  France  indebted  for  this  increase  of  impor- 
tance merely  to  the  reunion  of  the  provinces  which 
had  been  torn  from  it.  A  circumstance  attended  the 
recovery  of  these  which,  though  less  considerable  and 
less  observed,  contributed  not  a  little  to  give  additional 
vigor  and  decision  to  all  the  efforts  of  that  monarchy. 
During  the  obstinate  struggles  between  France  and 
England,  all  the  defects  of  the  military  system  under 
the  feudal  government  were  sensibly  felt.  A  war  of 
long  continuance  languished,  when  carried  on  by 


loo  A    VIEW  OF  THE 

troops  bound  and  accustomed  to  keep  the  field  only 
for  a  short  time.  Armies  composed  chiefly  of  heavy- 
armed  cavalry  were  unfit  either  for  the  defence  or  the 
attack  of  the  many  towns  and  castles  which  it  became 
necessary  to  guard  or  to  reduce.  In  order  to  obtain 
such  permanent  and  effective  force  as  became  requisite 
during  these  lengthened  contests,  the  kings  of  France 
took  into  their  pay  considerable  bands  of  mercenary 
soldiers,  levied  sometimes  among  their  own  subjects, 
and  sometimes  in  foreign  countries.  But,  as  the  feudal 
policy  provided  no  sufficient  fund  for  such  extraor- 
dinary service,  these  adventurers  were  dismissed  at  the 
close  of  every  campaign,  or  upon  any  prospect  of 
accommodation;  and,  having  been  little  accustomed 
to  the  restraints  of  discipline,  they  frequently  turned 
their  arms  against  the  country  which  they  had  been 
hired  to  defend,  and  desolated  it  with  cruelty  not 
inferior  to  that  of  its  foreign  enemies. 

A  body  of  troops  kept  constantly  on  foot,  and  regu- 
larly trained  to  military  subordination,  would  have 
supplied  what  was  wanting  in  the  feudal  constitution, 
and  have  furnished  princes  with  the  means  of  executing 
enterprises  to  which  they  were  then  unequal.  Such 
an  establishment,  however,  was  so  repugnant  to  the 
genius  of  feudal  policy,  and  so  incompatible  with  the 
privileges  and  pretensions  of  the  nobility,  that  during 
several  centuries  no  monarch  was  either  so  bold  or  so 
powerful  as  to  venture  on  any  step  towards  introducing 
it.  At  last,  Charles  VII.,  availing  himself  of  the  repu- 
tation which  he  had  acquired  by  his  successes  against 
the  English,  and  taking  advantage  of  the  impres- 
sions of  terror  which  such  a  formidable  enemy  had  left 


STATE    OF  EUROPE.  IOi 

upon  the  minds  of  his  subjects,  executed  that  which  his 
predecessors  durst  not  attempt.  Under  pretence  of 
having  always  ready  a  force  sufficient  to  defend  the 
kingdom  against  any  sudden  invasion  of  the  English, 
he,  at  the  time  when  he  disbanded  his  other  troops, 
retained  under  arms  a  body  of  nine  thousand  cavalry 
and  of  sixteen  thousand  infantry.  He  appropriated 
funds  for  the  regular  payment  of  these ;  he  stationed 
them  in  different  places  of  the  kingdom,  according  to 
his  pleasure,  and  appointed  the  officers  who  commanded 
and  disciplined  them.  The  prime  nobility  courted 
this  service,  in  which  they  were  taught  to  depend  on 
their  sovereign,  to  execute  his  orders,  and  to  look  up 
to  him  as  the  judge  and  rewarder  of  their  merit.  The 
feudal  militia,  composed  of  the  vassals  whom  the  nobles 
could  call  out  to  follow  their  standard,  as  it  was  in  no  de- 
gree comparable  to  a  body  of  soldiers  regularly  trained 
to  war,  sunk  gradually  in  reputation.  The  strength  of 
an  army  was  no  longer  estimated  solely  by  the  num- 
ber of  cavalry  which  served  in  it.  From  the  time  that 
gunpowder  was  invented,  and  the  use  of  cannon  in 
the  field  became  general,  horsemen  cased  in  complete 
armor  lost  all  the  advantages  which  gave  them  the 
pre-eminence  over  other  soldiers.  The  helmet,  the 
shield,  and  the  breastplate,  which  resisted  the  arrow 
or  the  spear,  no  longer  afforded  them  security  against 
these  new  instruments  of  destruction.  The  service  of 
infantry  rose  again  into  esteem,  and  victories  were 
gained,  and  conquests  made,  chiefly  by  their  efforts. 
The  nobles  and  their  military  tenants,  though  some- 
times summoned  to  the  field,  according  to  ancient 
form,  were  considered  as  an  encumbrance  upon  the 
9* 


102  A    VIEW  OF  THE 

troops  with  which  they  acted,  and  were  viewed  with 
contempt  by  soldiers  accustomed  to  the  vigorous  and 
steady  operations  of  regular  service. 

Thus  the  regulations  of  Charles  VII.,  by  establishing 
the  first  standing  army  known  in  Europe,  occasioned 
an  important  revolution  in  its  affairs  and  policy.  By 
taking  from  the  nobles  the  sole  direction  of  the  national 
military  force,  which  had  raised  them  to  such  high 
authority  and  importance,  a  deep  wound  was  given  to 
the  feudal  aristocracy,  in  that  part  where  its  power 
seemed  Jo  be  most  complete. 

France,  by  forming  this  body  of  regular  troops,  at  a 
time  when  there  was  hardly  a  squadron  or  company 
kept  in  constant  pay  in  any  other  part  of  Europe, 
acquired  such  advantages  over  its  neighbors,  either  in 
attack  or  defence,  that  self-preservation  made  it  neces- 
sary for  them  to  imitate  its  example.  Mercenary 
troops  were  introduced  into  all  the  considerable  king- 
doms on  the  continent.  They  gradually  became  the 
only  military  force  that  was  employed  or  trusted.  It 
has  long  been  the  chief  object  of  policy  to  increase 
and  to  support  them.  It  has  long  been  the  great  aim 
of  princes  and  ministers  to  discredit  and  to  annihilate 
all  other  means  of  national  activity  or  defence. 

As  the  kings  of  France  got  the  start  of  other  powers 
in  establishing  a  military  force  in  their  dominions, 
which  enabled  them  to  carry  on  foreign  operations 
with  more  vigor  and  to  greater  extent,  so  they  were 
the  first  who  effectually  broke  the  feudal  aristocracy 
and  humbled  the  great  vassals  of  the  crown,  who  by 
their  exorbitant  power  had  long  circumscribed  the 
royal  prerogative  within  very  narrow  limits  and  had 


STATE    OF  EUROPE. 


103 


rendered  all  the  efforts  of  the  monarchs  of  Europe 
inconsiderable.  Many  things  concurred  to  undermine, 
gradually,  the  power  of  the  feudal  aristocracy  in  France. 
The  wealth  and  property  of  the  nobility  were  greatly 
impaired  during  the  long  wars  which  the  kingdom  was 
obliged  to  maintain  with  the  English.  The  extraor- 
dinary zeal  with  which  they  exerted  themselves  in 
defence  of  their  country  against  its  ancient  enemies 
exhausted  entirely  the  fortunes  of  some  great  families. 
As  almost  every  province  in  the  kingdom  was  in  its 
turn  the  seat  of  war,  the  lands  of  others  were  exposed 
to  the  depredations  of  the  enemy,  were  ravaged  by  the 
mercenary  troops  which  their  sovereigns  hired  occa- 
sionally but  could  not  pay,  or  were  desolated  with  rage 
still  more  destructive  by  the  peasants,  in  different 
insurrections.  At  the  same  time,  the  necessities  of  gov- 
ernment having  forced  their  kings  upon  the  desperate 
expedient  of  making  great  and  sudden  alterations  in 
the  current  coin  of  the  kingdom,  the  fines,  quit-rents, 
and  other  payments  fixed  by  ancient  custom  sunk  much 
in  value,  and  the  revenues  of  a  fief  were  reduced  far 
below  the  sum  which  it  had  once  yielded.  During 
their  contests  with  the  English,  in  which  a  generous 
nobility  courted  every  station  where  danger  appeared 
or  honor  could  be  gained,  many  families  of  note  be- 
came extinct,  and  their  fiefs  were  reunited  to  the  crown. 
Other  fiefs,  in  a  long  course  of  years,  fell  to  female 
heirs,  and  were  divided  among  them,  were  diminished 
by  profuse  donations  to  the  Church,  or  were  broken 
and  split  by  the  succession  of  remote  collateral  heirs.1 
Encouraged  by  these  manifest  symptoms  of  decline 

1  Boulainvilliers,  Histoire  du  Gouvernement  de  France,  Lettre  xii. 


104  A   VIEW  OF  THE 

in  that  body  which  he  wished  to  depress,  Charles  VII., 
during  the  first  interval  of  peace  with  England,  made 
several  efforts  towards  establishing  the  regal  prerogative 
on  the  ruins  of  the  aristocracy.  But  his  obligations  to 
the  nobles  were  so  many,  as  well  as  recent,  and  their 
services  in  recovering  the  kingdom  so  splendid,  as 
rendered  it  necessary  for  him  to  proceed  with  modera- 
tion and  caution.  Such,  however,  was  the  authority 
which  the  crown  had  acquired  by  the  progress  of  its 
arms  against  the  English,  and  so  much  was  the  power 
of  the  nobility  diminished,  that,  without  any  opposi- 
tion, he*  soon  made  innovations  of  great  consequence 
in  the  constitution.  He  not  only  established  that 
formidable  body  of  regular  troops  which  has  been 
mentioned,  but  he  was  the  first  monarch  of  France 
who  by  his  royal  edict,  without  the  concurrence  of  the 
states-general  of  the  kingdom,  levied  an  extraordinary 
subsidy  on  his  people.  He  prevailed  likewise  with  his 
subjects  to  render  several  taxes  perpetual  which  had 
formerly  been  imposed  occasionally  and  exacted  during 
a  short  time.  By  means  of  all  these  innovations  he 
acquired  such  an  increase  of  power,  and  extended  his 
prerogative  so  far  beyond  its  ancient  limits,  that,  from 
being  the  most  dependent  prince  who  had  ever  sat 
upon  the  throne  of  France,  he  came  to  possess,  during 
the  latter  years  of  his  reign,  a  degree  of  authority 
which  none  of  his  predecessors  had  enjoyed  for  several 
ages.8 

That  plan  of  humbling  the  nobility  which  Charles 

2  Histoire  de  France  par  Velly  et  Villaret,  torn.  xv.  pp.  331,  etc., 
389;  torn.  xvi.  p.  324. — Variations  de  la  Monarchic  Fran9oise,  toin. 
iii.  p.  162. 


STATE    OF  EUROPE.  Io$ 

began  to  execute,  his  son  Louis  XI.  carried  on  with  a 
bolder  spirit  and  with  greater  success.  Louis  was 
formed  by  nature  to  be  a  tyrant ;  and  at  whatever 
period  he  had  been  called  to  ascend  the  throne,  his 
reign  must  have  abounded  with  schemes  to  oppress  his 
people  and  to  render  his  own  power  absolute.  Subtle, 
unfeeling,  cruel,  a  stranger  to  every  principle  of  integ- 
rity, and  regardless  of  decency,  he  scorned  all  the  re- 
straints which  a  sense  of  honor  or  the  desire  of  fame 
imposes  even  upon  ambitious  men.  Sagacious,  at  the 
same  time,  to  discern  what  he  deemed  his  true  interest, 
and  influenced  by  that  alone,  he  was  capable  of  pursu- 
ing it  with  a  persevering  industry,  and  of  adhering  to 
it  with  a  systematic  spirit,  from  which  no  object  could 
divert  and  no  danger  could  deter  him. 

The  maxims  of  his  administration  were  as  profound 
as  they  were  fatal  to  the  privileges  of  the  nobility.  He 
filled  all  the  departments  of  government  with  new  men, 
and  often  with  persons  whom  he  called  from  the  lowest 
as  well  as  the  most  despised  functions  in  life  and  raised 
at  pleasure  to  stations  of  great  power  or  trust.  These 
were  his  only  confidants,  whom  he  consulted  in  form- 
ing his  plans,  and  to  whom  he  committed  the  execution 
of  them ;  while  the  nobles,  accustomed  to  be  the  com- 
panions, the  favorites,  and  the  ministers  of  their  sove- 
reigns, were  treated  with  such  studied  and  mortifying 
neglect  that,  if  they  would  not  submit  to  follow  a  court 
in  which  they  appeared  without  any  shadow  of  their 
ancient  power,  they  were  obliged  to  retire  to  their 
castles,  where  they  remained  unemployed  and  forgotten. 
Not  satisfied  with  having  rendered  the  nobles  of  less 
consideration  by  taking  out  of  their  hands  the  sole 

E* 


106  A    VIEW  OF   THE 

direction  of  affairs,  Louis  added  insult  to  neglect,  and, 
by  violating  their  most  valuable  privileges,  endeavored 
to  degrade  the  order  and  to  reduce  the  members  of  it 
to  the  same  level  with  other  subjects.  Persons  of  the 
highest  rank  among  them,  if  so  bold  as  to  oppose  his 
schemes  or  so  unfortunate  as  to  awaken  the  jealousy  of 
his  capricious  temper,  were  persecuted  with  rigor  from 
which  all  who  belonged  to  the  order  of  nobility  had 
hitherto  been  exempt ;  they  were  tried  by  judges  who 
had  no  right  to  take  cognizance  of  their  actions,  and 
were  subjected  to  torture,  or  condemned  to  an  igno- 
minious death,  without  regard  to  their  birth  or  condi- 
tion. The  people,  accustomed  to  see  the  blood  of  the 
most  illustrious  personages  shed  by  the  hands  of  the 
common  executioner,  to  behold  them  shut  up  in  dun- 
geons and  carried  about  in  cages  of  iron,  began  to  view 
the  nobility  with  less  reverence  than  formerly,  and 
looked  up  with  terror  to  the  royal  authority,  which 
seemed  to  have  humbled  or  annihilated  every  other 
power  in  the  kingdom. 

At  the  same  time,  Louis,  being  afraid  that  oppression 
might  rouse  the  nobles,  whom  the  rigor  of  his  govern- 
ment had  intimidated,  or  that  self-preservation  might 
at  last  teach  them  to  unite,  dexterously  scattered  among 
them  the  seeds  of  discord,  and  industriously  fomented 
those  ancient  animosities  between  the  great  families, 
which  the  spirit  of  jealousy  and  emulation  natural  to 
the  feudal  government  had  originally  kindled  and  still 
kept  alive.  To  accomplish  this,  all  the  arts  of  in- 
trigue, all  the  mysteries  and  refinements  of  his  fraudu- 
lent policy,  were  employed,  and  with  such  success  that, 
at  a  juncture  which  required  the  most  strenuous  efforts 


STATE    OF  EUROPE. 


107 


as  well  as  the  most  perfect  union,  the  nobles  never 
acted,  except  during  one  short  sally  of  resentment  at 
the  beginning  of  his  reign,  either  with  vigor  or  in 
concert. 

As  he  stripped  the  nobility  of  their  privileges,  he 
added  to  the  power  and  prerogative  of  the  crown.  In 
order  to  have  at  command  such  a  body  of  soldiers  as 
might  be  sufficient  to  crush  any  force  that  his  disaffected 
subjects  could  draw  together,  he  not  only  kept  on  foot 
the  regular  troops  which  his  father  had  raised,  but,  be- 
sides augmenting  their  number  considerably,  he  took 
into  his  pay  six  thousand  Swiss,  at  that  time  the  best 
disciplined  and  most  formidable  infantry  in  Europe.3 
From  the  jealousy  natural  to  tyrants,  he  confided  in 
these  foreign  mercenaries,  as  the  most  devoted  instru- 
ments of  oppression,  and  the  most  faithful  guardians 
of  the  power  which  he  had  usurped.  That  they 
might  be  ready  to  act  on  the  shortest  warning,  he, 
during  the  latter  years  of  his  reign,  kept  a  considerable 
body  of  them  encamped  in  one  place.4 

Great  funds  were  requisite,  not  only  to  defray  the 
expense  of  this  additional  establishment,  but  to  supply 
the  sums  employed  in  the  various  enterprises  which  the 
restless  activity  of  his  genius  prompted  him  to  under- 
take. But  the  prerogative  that  his  father  had  assumed 
of  levying  taxes  without  the  concurrence  of  the  states- 
general,  which  he  was  careful  not  only  to  retain,  but 
to  extend,  enabled  him  to  provide  in  some  measure  for 
the  increasing  charges  of  government. 

3  Mem.  de  Comines,  torn.  i.  p.  367. — Dan.,  Hist,  de  la  Milice  Fran- 
9oise,  torn.  i.  p.  182. 

•*  Mem.  dc  Comines,  torn.  i.  p.  381. 


loS  A    VIEW  OF  THE 

What  his  prerogative,  enlarged  as  it  was,  could  not 
furnish,  his  address  procured.  He  was  the  first  mon- 
arch in  Europe  who  discovered  the  method  of  man- 
aging those  great  assemblies  in  which  the  feudal  policy 
had  vested  the  power  of  granting  subsidies  and  of  im- 
posing taxes.  He  first  taught  other  princes  the  fatal 
art  of  beginning  their  attack  on  public  liberty  by  cor- 
rupting the  source  from  which  it  should  flow.  By 
exerting  all  his  power  and  address  in  influencing  the 
election  of  representatives,  by  bribing  or  overawing 
the  members,  and  by  various  changes  which  he  artfully 
made  in'the  form  of  their  deliberations,  Louis  acquired 
such  entire  direction  of  these  assemblies  that,  from 
being  the  vigilant  guardians  of  the  privileges  and 
property  of  the  people,  he  rendered  them  tamely  sub- 
servient towards  promoting  the  most  odious  measures 
of  his  reign.5  As  no  power  remained  to  set  bounds  to 
his  exactions,  he  not  only  continued  all  the  taxes  im- 
posed by  his  father,  but  he  made  great  additions  to 
them,  which  amounted  to  a  sum  that  appeared  astonish- 
ing to  his  contemporaries.6 

Nor  was  it  the  power  alone  or  wealth  of  the  crown 
that  Louis  increased  :  he  extended  its  territories  by 
acquisitions  of  various  kinds.  He  got  possession  of 
Roussillon  by  purchase ;  Provence  was  conveyed  to  him 
by  the  will  of  Charles  de  Anjou ;  and  upon  the  death 
of  Charles  the  Bold  he  seized  with  a  strong  hand  Bur- 

5  Mem.  de  Comines,  torn.  i.  p.  136. — Chronique  Scandaleuse,  ibid., 
torn.  ii.  p.  71. 

6  Mem.  de  Comines,  torn.  i.  p.  334. — Charles  VII.  levied  taxes  to  the 
amount  of  1,800,000  francs;  Louis  XI.  raised  4,700,000.     The  former 
had  in  pay  9000  cavalry  and  16,000  infantry.     The  latter  augmented 
the  cavalry  to  15,000,  and  the  infantry  to  25,000.    Ibid.,  torn.  i.  p.  384. 


STATE    OF  EUROPE.  109 

gundy  and  Artois,  which  had  belonged  to  that  prince. 
Thus,  during  the  course  of  a  single  reign  France  was 
formed  into  one  compact  kingdom,  and  the  steady, 
unrelenting  policy  of  Louis  XL  not  only  subdued  the 
haughty  spirit  of  the  feudal  nobles,  but  established  a 
species  of  government  scarcely  less  absolute  or  less 
terrible  than  Eastern  despotism. 

But,  fatal  as  his  administration  was  to  the  liberties 
of  his  subjects,  the  authority  which  he  acquired,  the 
resources  of  which  he  became  master,  and  his  freedom 
from  restraint  in  concerting  his  plans  as  well  as  in 
executing  them,  rendered  his  reign  active  and  enter- 
prising. Louis  negotiated  in  all  the  courts  of  Europe; 
he  observed  the  motions  of  all  his  neighbors ;  he  en- 
gaged, either  as  principal  or  as  an  auxiliary,  in  every 
great  transaction ;  his  resolutions  were  prompt,  his 
operations  vigorous ;  and  upon  every  emergence  he 
could  call  forth  into  action  the  whole  force  of  his 
kingdom.  From  the  era  of  his  reign,  the  kings  of 
France,  no  longer  fettered  and  circumscribed  at  home 
by  a  jealous  nobility,  have  exerted  themselves  more 
abroad,  have  formed  more  extensive  schemes  of  foreign 
conquests,  and  have  carried  on  war  with  a  spirit  and 
vigor  long  unknown  in  Europe. 

The  example  which  Louis  set  was  too  inviting  not 
to  be  imitated  by  other  princes.  Henry  VII.,  as  soon 
as  he  was  seated  on  the  throne  of  England,  formed  the 
plan  of  enlarging  his  own  prerogative  by  breaking  the 
power  of  the  nobility.  The  circumstances  under  which 
he  undertook  to  execute  it  were  less  favorable  than 
those  which  induced  Charles  VII.  to  make  the  same 
attempt;  and  the  spirit  with  which  he  conducted  it  was 
Charles. — VOL.  I.  10 


no  A    VIEW  OF   THE 

very  different  from  that  of  Louis  XI.  Charles,  by  the 
success  of  his  arms  against  the  English,  by  the  merit 
of  having  expelled  them  out  of  so  many  provinces, 
had  established  himself  so  firmly  in  the  confidence 
of  his  people  as  encouraged  him  to  make  bold  en- 
croachments on  the  ancient  constitution.  The  daring 
genius  of  Louis  broke  through  every  barrier,  and  en- 
deavored to  surmount  or  to  remove  every  obstacle 
that  stood  in  his  way.  But  Henry  held  the  sceptre 
by  a  disputed  title ;  a  popular  faction  was  ready  every 
momen.t  to  take  arms  against  him;  and  after  long  civil 
wars,  during  which  the  nobility  had  often  displayed 
their  power  in  creating  and  deposing  kings,  he  felt 
that  the  regal  authority  had  been  so  much  relaxed,  and 
that  he  had  entered  into  possession  of  a  prerogative  so 
much  abridged,  as  rendered  it  necessary  to  carry  on 
his  measures  deliberately  and  without  any  violent  ex- 
ertion. He  endeavored  to  undermine  that  formidable 
structure  which  he  durst  not  attack  by  open  force. 
His  schemes,  though  cautious  and  slow  in  their  opera- 
tion, were  well  concerted,  and  productive  in  the  end 
of  great  effects.  By  his  laws  permitting  the  barons  to 
break  the  entails  of  their  estates  and  expose  them  to 
sale ;  by  his  regulations  to  prevent  the  nobility  from 
keeping  in  their  service  those  numerous  bands  of  re- 
tainers, which  rendered  them  formidable  and  turbu- 
lent ;  by  favoring  the  rising  power  of  the  commons ; 
by  encouraging  population,  agriculture,  and  commerce; 
by  securing  to  his  subjects,  during  a  long  reign,  the 
enjoyment  of  the  blessings  which  flow  from  the  arts 
of  peace ;  by  accustoming  them  to  an  administration 
of  government  under  which  the  laws  were  executed 


STATE   OF  EUROPE.  m 

with  steadiness  and  vigor, — he  made  imperceptibly 
considerable  alterations  in  the  English  constitution, 
and  transmitted  to  his  successor  authority  so  extensive 
as  rendered  him  one  of  the  most  absolute  monarchs  in 
Europe  and  capable  of  the  greatest  and  most  vigorous 
efforts. 

In  Spain,  the  union  of  all  its  crowns  by  the  mar- 
riage of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  the  glory  that  they 
acquired  by  the  conquest  of  Granada,  which  brought 
the  odious  dominion  of  the  Moors  to  a  period,  the 
command  of  the  great  armies  which  it  had  been  neces- 
sary to  keep  long  on  foot  in  order  to  accomplish  this, 
the  wisdom  and  steadiness  of  their  administration,  and 
the  address  with  which  they  availed  themselves  of  every 
incident  that  occurred  to  humble  the  nobility  and  to 
extend  their  own  prerogative,  conspired  in  raising 
these  monarchs  to  such  eminence  and  authority  as 
none  of  their  predecessors  had  ever  enjoyed.  Though 
several  causes,  which  shall  be  explained  in  another 
place,  prevented  their  attaining  the  same  powers  with 
the  kings  of  France  and  England,  and  preserved  the 
feudal  constitution  longer  entire  in  Spain,  their  great 
abilities  supplied  the  defects  of  their  prerogative,  and 
improved  with  such  dexterity  all  the  advantages  which 
they  possessed  that  Ferdinand  carried  on  his  foreign 
operations,  which  were  very  extensive,  with  extraordi- 
nary vigor  and  effect. 

While  these  princes  were  thus  enlarging  the  bound- 
aries of  prerogative,  and  taking  such  steps  towards 
rendering  their  kingdoms  capable  of  acting  with  union 
and  force,  events  occurred  which  called  them  forth  to 
exert  the  new  powers  which  they  had  acquired.  These 


H2  A    VIEW  OF   THE 

engaged  them  in  such  a  series  of  enterprises  and  nego- 
tiations that  the  affairs  of  all  the  considerable  nations 
in  Europe  came  to  be  insensibly  interwoven  with  each 
other,  and  a  great  political  system  was  gradually 
formed,  which  grew  to  be  an  object  of  universal 
attention. 

The  first  event  which  merits  notice,  on  account  of 
its  influence  in  producing  this  change  in  the  state  of 
Europe,  was  the  marriage  of  the  daughter  of  Charles 
the  Bold,  the  sole  heiress  of  the  house  of  Burgundy. 
For  some  years  before  her  father's  death  she  had  been 
considered  as  the  apparent  successor  to  his  territories, 
and  Charles  had  made  proposals  of  marrying  her  to 
several  different  princes,  with  a  view  of  alluring  them, 
by  that  offer,  to  favor  the  schemes  which  his  restless 
ambition  was  continually  forming. 

This  rendered  the  alliance  with  her  an  object  of 
general  attention;  and  all  the  advantages  of  acquiring 
possession  of  her  territories,  the  most  opulent  at  that 
time,  and  the  best  cultivated,  of  any  on  this  side  of  the 
Alps,  were  perfectly  understood.  As  soon,  then,  as 
the  untimely  death  of  Charles  opened  the  succession, 
the  eyes  of  all  the  princes  in  Europe  were  turned  to- 
wards Mary,  and  they  felt  themselves  deeply  interested 
in  the  choice  which  she  was  about  to  make  of  the  per- 
son on  whom  she  would  bestow  that  rich  inheritance. 

Louis  XL,  from  whose  kingdom  several  of  the  prov- 
inces which  she  possessed  had  been  dismembered,  and 
whose  dominions  stretched  along  the  frontier  of  her 
territories,  had  every  inducement  to  court  her  alliance. 
He  had,  likewise,  a  good  title  to  expect  the  favorable 
reception  of  any  reasonable  proposition  he  should 


STATE    OF  EUROPE.  113 

make  with  respect  to  the  disposal  of  a  princess  who 
was  the  vassal  of  his  crown  and  descended  from  the 
royal  blood  of  France.  There  were  only  two  proposi- 
tions, however,  which  he  could  make  with  propriety. 
The  one  was  the  marriage  of  the  dauphin,  the  other 
that  of  the  count  of  Angouleme,  a  prince  of  the  blood, 
with  the  heiress  of  Burgundy.  By  the  former,  he  would 
have  annexed  all  her  territories  to  his  crown,  and  have 
rendered  France  at  once  the  most  respectable  monarchy 
in  Europe.  But  the  great  disparity  of  age  between  the 
two  parties,  Mary  being  twenty  and  the  dauphin  only 
eight  years  old,  the  avowed  resolution  of  the  Flemings 
not  to  choose  a  master  possessed  of  such  power  as 
might  enable  him  to  form  schemes  dangerous  to  their 
liberties,  together  with  their  dread  of  falling  under 
the  odious  and  oppressive  government  of  Louis,  were 
obstacles  in  the  way  of  executing  this  plan  which  it 
was  vain  to  think  of  surmounting.  By  the  latter,  the 
accomplishment  of  which  might  have  been  attained 
with  ease,  Mary  having  discovered  some  inclination  to 
a  match  with  the  count  of  Angouleme,7  Louis  would 
have  prevented  the  dominions  of  the  house  of  Bur- 
gundy from  being  conveyed  to  a  rival  power,  and  in 
return  for  such  a  splendid  establishment  for  the  count 
of  Angouleme  he  must  have  obtained,  or  would  have 
extorted  from  him,  concessions  highly  beneficial  to  the 
crown  of  France.  But  Louis  had  been  accustomed  so 
long  to  the  intricacies  of  a  crooked  and  insidious 
policy  that  he  could  not  be  satisfied  with  what  was 
obvious  and  simple,  and  was  so  fond  of  artifice  and 
refinement  that  he  came  to  consider  these  rather  as  an 

1  Mem.  de  Comines,  torn.  i.  p.  358. 
10* 


114  A    VIEW  OF  THE 

ultimate  object  than  merely  as  the  means  of  conducting 
affairs.  From  this  principle,  no  less  than  from  his 
unwillingness  to  aggrandize  any  of  his  own  subjects, 
or  from  his  desire  of  oppressing  the  house  of  Burgundy, 
which  he  hated,  he  neglected  the  course  which  a  prince 
less  able  and  artful  would  have  taken,  and  followed 
one  more  suited  to  his  own  genius. 

He  proposed  to  render  himself,  by  force  of  arms, 
master  of  those  provinces  which  Mary  held  of  the 
crown  of  France,  and  even  to  push  his  conquests  into 
her  oth^r  territories  while  he  amused  her  with  insist- 
ing continually  on  the  impracticable  match  with  the 
dauphin.  In  prosecuting  this  plan  he  displayed  won- 
derful talents  and  industry,  and  exhibited  such  scenes 
of  treachery,  falsehood,  and  cruelty  as  are  amazing 
even  in  the  history  of  Louis  XL  Immediately  upon 
the  death  of  Charles  he  put  his  troops  in  motion  and 
advanced  towards  the  Netherlands.  He  corrupted  the 
leading  men  in  the  provinces  of  Burgundy  and  Artois, 
and  seduced  them  to  desert  their  sovereign.  He  got 
admission  into  some  of  the  frontier  towns  by  bribing 
the  governors ;  the  gates  of  others  were  opened  to  him 
in  consequence  of  his  intrigues  with  the  inhabitants. 
He  negotiated  with  Mary;  and,  in  order  to  render  her 
odious  to  her  subjects,  he  betrayed  to  them  her  most 
important  secrets.  He  carried  on  a  private  correspond- 
ence with  the  two  ministers  whom  she  chiefly  trusted, 
and  then  communicated  the  letters  which  he  had  re- 
ceived from  them  to  the  states  of  Flanders,  who,  enraged 
at  their  perfidy,  brought  them  immediately  to  trial, 
tortured  them  with  extreme  cruelty,  and,  unmoved  by 
the  tears  and  entreaties  of  their  sovereign,  who  knew 


STATE    OF  EUROPE.  115 

and  approved  of  all  that  the  ministers  had  done,  they 
beheaded  them  in  her  presence.8 

While  Louis,  by  his  conduct,  unworthy  of  a  great 
monarch,  was  securing  the  possession  of  Burgundy, 
Artois,  and  the  towns  on  the  Somme,  the  states  of 
Flanders  carried  on  a  negotiation  with  the  emperor 
Frederic  III.,  and  concluded  a  treaty  of  marriage 
between  their  sovereign  and  his  son  Maximilian,  arch- 
duke of  Austria.  The  illustrious  birth  of  that  prince, 
as  well  as  the  high  dignity  of  which  he  had  the  pros- 
pect, rendered  the  alliance  honorable  for  Mary,  while, 
from  the  distance  of  his  hereditary  territories  and  the 
scantiness  of  his  revenues,  his  power  was  so  inconsid- 
erable as  did  not  excite  the  jealousy  or  fear  of  the 
Flemings.  [1477.] 

Thus  Louis,  by  the  caprice  of  his  temper  and  the 
excess  of  his  refinements,  put  the  house  of  Austria  in 
possession  of  this  noble  inheritance.  By  this  acquisi- 
tion the  foundation  of  the  future  grandeur  of  Charles 
V.  was  laid,  and  he  became  master  of  those  territories 
which  enabled  him  to  carry  on  his  most  formidable  and 
decisive  operations  against  France.  Thus,  too,  the 
same  monarch  who  first  united  the  interior  force  of 
France,  and  established  it  on  such  a  footing  as  to  render 
it  formidable  to  the  rest  of  Europe,  contributed,  far 
contrary  to  his  intention,  to  raise  up  a  rival  power, 
which  during  two  centuries  has  thwarted  the  measures, 
opposed  the  arms,  and  checked  the  progress  of  his 
successors. 

The  next  event  of  consequence  in  the  fifteenth  cen- 
tury was  the  expedition  of  Charles  VIII.  into  Italy. 

8  Mem.  de  Comines,  liv.  v.  chap.  15,  p.  309,  etc. 


n6  A   VIEW  OF  THE 

This  occasioned  revolutions  no  less  memorable ;  pro- 
duced alterations,  both  in  the  military  and  political 
system,  which  were  more  immediately  perceived ;  roused 
the  states  of  Europe  to  bolder  efforts,  and  blended  their 
affairs  and  interests  more  closely  together.  The  mild 
administration  of  Charles,  a  weak  but  generous  prince, 
seems  to  have  revived  the  spirit  and  genius  of  the 
French  nation,  which  the  rigid  despotism  of  Louis  XL, 
his  father,  had  depressed  and  almost  extinguished.  The 
ardor  for  military  service,  natural  to  the  French  nobility, 
returned,  and  their  young  monarch  was  impatient  to 
distinguish  his  reign  by  some  splendid  enterprise. 
While  he  was  uncertain  towards  what  quarter  he  should 
turn  his  arms,  the  solicitations  and  intrigues  of  an 
Italian  politician,  no  less  infamous  on  account  of  his 
crimes  than  eminent  for  his  abilities,  determined  his 
choice.  Ludovico  Sforza,  having  formed  the  design 
of  deposing  his  nephew,  the  duke  of  Milan,  and  of 
placing  himself  on  the  ducal  throne,  was  so  much  afraid 
of  a  combination  of  the  Italian  powers  to  oppose  this 
measure  and  to  support  the  injured  prince,  with  whom 
most  of  them  were  connected  by  blood  or  alliance, 
that  he  saw  the  necessity  of  securing  the  aid  of  some 
able  protector.  The  king  of  France  was  the  person  to 
whom  he  applied  ;  and,  without  disclosing  his  own  in- 
tentions, he  labored  to  prevail  with  him  to  march  into 
Italy  at  the  head  of  a  powerful  army,  in  order  to  seize 
the  crown  of  Naples,  to  which  Charles  had  preten- 
sions as  heir  of  the  house  of  Anjou.  The  right  to  that 
kingdom,  claimed  by  the  Angevin  family,  had  been 
conveyed  to  Louis  XL  by  Charles  of  Anjou,  count 
of  Maine  and  Provence.  But  that  sagacious  monarch, 


STATE    OF  EUROPE.  117 

though  he  took  immediate  possession  of  those  territories 
of  which  Charles  was  really  master,  totally  disregarded 
his  ideal  title  to  a  kingdom  over  which  another  prince 
reigned  in  tranquillity,  and  uniformly  declined  in- 
volving himself  in  the  labyrinth  of  Italian  politics. 
His  son,  more  adventurous,  or  more  inconsiderate,  em- 
barked eagerly  in  this  enterprise,  and,  contemning  all 
the  remonstrances  of  his  most  experienced  counsellors, 
prepared  to  carry  it  on  with  the  utmost  vigor.  [1494.] 

The  power  which  Charles  possessed  was  so  great  that 
he  reckoned  himself  equal  to  this  arduous  undertaking. 
His  father  had  transmitted  to  him  such  an  ample  pre- 
rogative as  gave  him  the  entire  command  of  his  king- 
dom. He  himself  had  added  considerably  to  the 
extent  of  his  dominions  by  his  prudent  marriage  with 
the  heiress  of  Bretagne,  which  rendered  him  master  of 
that  province,  the  last  of  the  great  fiefs  that  remained 
to  be  annexed  to  the  crown.  He  soon  assembled  forces 
which  he  thought  sufficient ;  and  so  impatient  was  he 
to  enter  on  his  career  as  a  conqueror  that,  sacrificing 
what  was  real  for  what  was  chimerical,  he  restored 
Roussillon  to  Ferdinand  and  gave  up  part  of  his  father's 
acquisitions  in  Artois  to  Maximilian,  with  a  view  of 
inducing  these  princes  not  to  molest  France  while  he 
was  carrying  on  his  operations  in  Italy. 

But  so  different  were  the  efforts  of  the  states  of  Eu- 
rope in  the  fifteenth  century  from  those  which  we  shall 
behold  in  the  course  of  this  history,  that  the  army  with 
which  Charles  undertook  this  great  enterprise  did  not 
exceed  twenty  thousand  men.  The  train  of  artillery, 
however,  the  ammunition,  and  warlike  stores  of  every 
kind  provided  for  its  use,  were  so  considerable  as  to 


iig  A    VIEW  OF   THE 

bear  some  resemblance  to  the  immense  apparatus  of 
modern  war.9 

When  the  French  entered  Italy,  they  met  with  no- 
thing able  to  resist  them.  The  Italian  powers,  having 
remained  during  a  long  period  undisturbed  by  the 
invasion  of  any  foreign  enemy,  had  formed  a  system 
with  respect  to  their  affairs,  both  in  peace  and  war, 
peculiar  to  themselves.  In  order  to  adjust  the  interests 
and  balance  the  power  of  the  different  states  into  which 
Italy  was  divided,  they  were  engaged  in  perpetual  and 
endless  negotiations  with  each  other,  which  they  con- 
ducted with  all  the  subtlety  of  a  refining  and  deceitful 
policy.  Their  contests  in  the  field,  when  they  had 
recourse  to  arms,  were  decided  in  mock  battles,  by 
innocent  and  bloodless  victories.  Upon  the  first  ap- 
pearance of  the  danger  which  now  impended,  they 
had  recourse  to  the  arts  which  they  had  studied,  and 
employed  their  utmost  skill  in  intrigue  in  order  to 
avert  it.  But,  this  proving  ineffectual,  their  bands  of 
effeminate  mercenaries,  the  only  military  force  that 
remained  in  the  country,  being  fit  only  for  the  parade 
of  service,  were  terrified  at  the  aspect  of  real  war  and 
shrunk  at  its  approach.  The  impetuosity  of  the  French 
valor  appeared  to  them  irresistible.  Florence,  Pisa,  and 
Rome  opened  their  gates  as  the  French  army  advanced. 
The  prospect  of  this  dreadful  invasion  struck  one  king 
of  Naples  with  such  panic  terror  that  he  died  (if  we 
may  believe  historians)  of  the  fright.  Another  abdi- 
cated his  throne  from  the  same  pusillanimous  spirit.  A 
third  fled  out  of  his  dominions  as  soon  as  the  enemy 
appeared  on  the  Neapolitan  frontiers.  Charles,  after 

9  Mezeray,  Hist.,  torn.  ii.  p.  777. 


STATE    OF  EUROPE. 


119 


marching  thither  from  the  bottom  of  the  Alps  with  as 
much  rapidity  and  almost  as  little  opposition  as  if  he 
,  had  been  on  a  progress  through  his  own  dominions, 
took  quiet  possession  of  the  throne  of  Naples,  and 
intimidated  or  gave  law  to  every  power  in  Italy. 

Such  was  the  conclusion  of  an  expedition  that  must 
be  considered  as  the  first  great  exertion  of  those  new 
powers  which  the  princes  of  Europe  had  acquired  and 
now  began  to  exercise.  Its  effects  were  no  less  con- 
siderable than  its  success  had  been  astonishing.  The 
Italians,  unable  to  resist  the  impression  of  the  enemy 
who  broke  in  upon  them,  permitted  him  to  hold  on  his 
course  undisturbed.  They  quickly  perceived  that  no 
single  power  which  they  could  rouse  to  action  was  an 
equal  match  for  a  monarch  who  ruled  over  such  exten- 
sive territories  and  was  at  the  head  of  such  a  martial 
people,  but  that  a  confederacy  might  accomplish  what 
the  separate  members  of  it  durst  not  attempt.  To  this 
expedient,  the  only  one  that  remained  to  deliver  or 
to  preserve  them  from  the  yoke,  they  had  recourse. 
While  Charles  inconsiderately  wasted  his  time  at  Na- 
ples in  festivals  and  triumphs  on  account  of  his  past 
successes,  or  was  fondly  dreaming  of  future  conquests 
in  the  East,  to  the  empire  of  which  he  now  aspired, 
they  formed  against  him  a  powerful  combination  of 
almost  all  the  Italian  states,  supported  by  the  emperor 
Maximilian,  and  Ferdinand,  king  of  Aragon.  The 
union  of  so  many  powers,  who  suspended  or  forgot 
all  their  particular  animosities  that  they  might  act  in 
concert  against  an  enemy  who  had  become  formidable 
to  them  all,  awakened  Charles  from  his  thoughtless 
security.  He  saw  now  no  prospect  of  safety  but  in 


120  A    VIEW  OF   THE 

returning  to  France.  An  army  of  thirty  thousand 
men,  assembled  by  the  allies,  was  ready  to  obstruct  his 
march ;  and  though  the  French,  with  a  daring  courage 
which  more  than  countervailed  their  inferiority  in 
number,  broke  through  that  great  body  and  gained  a 
victory  which  opened  to  their  monarch  a  safe  passage 
into  his  own  territories,  he  was  stripped  of  all  his 
conquests  in  Italy  in  as  short  a  time  as  it  had  taken  to 
acquire  them ;  and  the  political  system  in  that  country 
resumed  the  same  appearance  as  before  his  invasion. 

The  ,sudden  and  decisive  effect  of  this  confederacy 
seems  to  have  instructed  the  princes  and  statesmen  of 
Italy  as  much  as  the  eruption  of  the  French  had  dis- 
concerted and  alarmed  them.  They  had  extended,  on 
this  occasion,  to  the  affairs  of  Europe,  the  maxims  of 
that  political  science  which  had  hitherto  been  applied 
only  to  regulate  the  operations  of  the  petty  states  in 
their  own  country.  They  had  discovered  the  method 
of  preventing  any  monarch  from  rising  to  such  a  degree 
of  power  as  was  inconsistent  with  the  general  liberty, 
and  had  manifested  the  importance  of  attending  to  that 
great  secret  in  modern  policy,  the  preservation  of  a 
proper  distribution  of  power  among  all  the  members 
of  the  system  into  which  the  states  of  Europe  are 
formed.  During  all  the  wars  of  which  Italy  from  that 
time  was  the  theatre,  and  amidst  the  hostile  operations 
which  the  imprudence  of  Louis  XII.  and  the  ambition 
of  Ferdinand  of  Aragon  carried  on  in  that  country, 
with  little  interruption,  from  the  close  of  the  fifteenth 
century  to  that  period  at  which  the  subsequent  history 
commences,  the  maintaining  a  proper  balance  of  power 
between  the  contending  parties  became  the  great  object 


STATE    OF  EUROPE.  121 

of  attention  to  the  statesmen  of  Italy.  Nor  was  the 
idea  confined  to  them.  Self-preservation  taught  other 
powers  to  adopt  it.  It  grew  to  be  fashionable  and  uni- 
versal. From  this  era  we  can  trace  the  progress  of  that 
intercourse  between  nations  which  has  linked  the  powers 
of  Europe  so  closely  together,  and  can  discern  the  oper- 
ations of  that  provident  policy  which  during  peace 
guards  against  remote  and  contingent  dangers,  and  in 
war  has  prevented  rapid  and  destructive  conquests. 

This  was  not  the  only  effect  of  the  operations  which 
the  great  powers  of  Europe  carried  on  in  Italy.  They 
contributed  to  render  general  such  a  change  as  the 
French  had  begun  to  make  in  the  state  of  their  troops, 
and  obliged  all  the  princes  who  appeared  on  this  new 
theatre  of  action  to  put  the  military  force  of  their 
kingdoms  on  an  establishment  similar  to  that  of  France. 
When  the  seat  of  war  came  to  be  remote  from  the 
countries  which  maintained  the  contest,  the'  service 
of  the  feudal  vassals  ceased  to  be  of  any  use,  and  the 
necessity  of  employing  soldiers  regularly  trained  to 
arms  and  kept  in  constant  pay  came  at  once  to  be 
evident.  When  Charles  VIII.  marched  into  Italy,  his 
cavalry  was  entirely  composed  of  those  companies  of 
gendarmes  embodied  by  Charles  VII.  and  continued  by 
Louis  XI.  ;  his  infantry  consisted  partly  of  Swiss,  hired 
of  the  Cantons,  and  partly  of  Gascons,  armed  and  dis- 
ciplined after  the  Swiss  model.  To  these  Louis  XII. 
added  a  body  of  Germans,  well  known  in  the  wars  of 
Italy  by  the  name  of  the  black  bands.  But  neither  of 
these  monarchs  made  any  account  of  the  feudal  militia, 
or  ever  had  recourse  to  that  military  force  which  they 
might  have  commanded  in  virtue  of  the  ancient  institu- 

Charles. — VOL.  I. — F  1 1 


122  A    VIEW  OF  THE 

tions  in  their  kingdom.  Maximilian  and  Ferdinand, 
as  soon  as  they  began  to  act  in  Italy,  employed  similar 
instruments,  and  trusted  the  execution  of  their  plans 
entirely  to  mercenary  troops. 

This  innovation  in  the  military  system  was  quickly 
followed  by  another,  which  the  custom  of  employing 
Swiss  in  the  Italian  wars  was  the  occasion  of  intro- 
ducing. The  arms  and  discipline  of  the  Swiss  were 
different  from  those  of  other  European  nations.  During 
their  long  and  violent  struggles  in  defence  of  their 
liberties  against  the  house  of  Austria,  whose  armies, 
like  those  of  other  considerable  princes,  consisted 
chiefly  of  heavy-armed  cavalry,  the  Swiss  found  that 
their  poverty,  and  the  small  number  of  gentlemen 
residing  in  their  country,  at  that  time  barren  and  ill 
cultivated,  put  it  out  of  their  power  to  bring  into  the 
field  any  body  of  horse  capable  of  facing  the  enemy. 
Necessity  compelled  them  to  place  all  their  confidence 
in  infantry;  and,  in  order  to  render  it  capable  of  with- 
standing the  shock  of  cavalry,  they  gave  the  soldiers 
breastplates  and  helmets  as  defensive  armor,  together 
with  long  spears,  halberds,  and  heavy  swords  as  weapons 
of  offence.  They  formed  them  into  large  battalions, 
ranged  in  deep  and  close  array,  so  that  they  could 
present  on  every  side  a  formidable  front  to  the  enemy.10 
The  men-at-arms  could  make  no  impression  on  the 
solid  strength  of  such  a  body.  It  repulsed  the  Aus- 
trians  in  all  their  attempts  to  conquer  Switzerland.  It 
broke  the  Burgundian  gendarmerie,  which  was  scarcely 
inferior  to  that  of  France,  either  in  number  or  reputa- 
tion; and  when  first  called  to  act  in  Italy,  it  bore  down, 

10  Machiavel's  Art  of  War,  b.  ii.  chap.  ii.  p.  451. 


STATE    OF  EUROPE.  123 

by  its  irresistible  force,  every  enemy  that  attempted  to 
oppose  it.  These  repeated  proofs  of  the  decisive  effect 
of  infantry,  exhibited  on  such  conspicuous  occasions, 
restored  that  service  to  reputation,  and  gradually  re- 
established the  opinion,  which  had  been  long  exploded, 
of  its  superior  importance  in  the  operations  of  war.  But, 
the  glory  which  the  Swiss  had  acquired  having  inspired 
them  with  such  high  ideas  of  their  own  prowess  and 
consequence  as  frequently  rendered  them  mutinous 
and  insolent,  the  princes  who  employed  them  became 
weary  of  depending  on  the  caprice  of  foreign  mer- 
cenaries, and  began  to  turn  their  attention  towards  the 
improvement  of  their  national  infantry. 

The  German  powers,  having  the  command  of  men 
whom  nature  has  endowed  with  that  steady  courage 
and  persevering  strength  which  form  them  to  be  sol- 
diers, soon  modelled  their  troops  in  such  a  manner  that 
they  vied  with  the  Swiss  both  in  discipline  and  valor. 

The  French  monarchs,  though  more  slowly  and 
with  greater  difficulty,  accustomed  the  impetuous  spirit 
of  their  people  to  subordination  and  discipline,  and 
were  at  such  pains  to  render  their  national  infantry 
respectable  that  as  early  as  the  reign  of  Louis  XII. 
several  gentlemen  of  high  rank  had  so  far  abandoned 
their  ancient  ideas  as  to  condescend  to  enter  into  that 
service." 

The  Spaniards,  whose  situation  made  it  difficult  to 
employ  any  other  than  their  national  troops  in  the 
southern  parts  of  Italy,  which  was  the  chief  scene  of 
their  operations  in  that  country,  not  only  adopted  the 
Swiss  discipline,  but  improved  upon  it,  by  mingling  a 

11  Brant&me,  torn.  x.  p.  18. — Mem.  de  Fleuranges,  p.  143. 


124 


A    VIEW  OF   TEE 


proper  number  of  soldiers,  armed  with  heavy  muskets, 
in  their  battalions,  and  thus  formed  that  famous  body 
of  infantry  which  during  a  century  and  a  half  was  the 
admiration  and  terror  of  all  Europe.  The  Italian  states 
gradually  diminished  the  number  of  their  cavalry,  and, 
in  imitation  of  their  more  powerful  neighbors,  brought 
the  strength  of  their  armies  to  consist  in  foot-soldiers. 
From  this  period  the  nations  of  Europe  have  carried 
on  war  with  forces  more  adapted  to  every  species  of 
service,  more  capable  of  acting  in  every  country,  and 
better  fitted  both  for  making  conquests  and  for  pre- 
serving'them. 

As  their  efforts  in  Italy  led  the  people  of  Europe  to 
these  improvements  in  the  art  of  war,  they  gave  them 
likewise  the  first  idea  of  the  expense  with  which  it  is 
accompanied  when  extensive  or  of  long  continuance, 
and  accustomed  every  nation  to  the  burden  of  such 
impositions  as  are  necessary  for  supporting  it.  While 
the  feudal  policy  subsisted  in  full  vigor,  while  armies 
were  composed  of  military  vassals  called  forth  to  attack 
some  neighboring  power  and  to  perform  in  a  short 
campaign  the  services  which  they  owed  to  their  sove- 
reign, the  expense  of  war  was  extremely  moderate.  A 
small  subsidy  enabled  a  prince  to  begin  and  to  finish 
his  greatest  military  operations.  But  when  Italy  be- 
came the  theatre  on  which  the  powers  of  Europe  con- 
tended for  superiority,  the  preparations  requisite  for 
such  a  distant  expedition,  the  pay  of  armies  kept  con- 
stantly on  foot,  their  subsistence  in  a  foreign  country, 
the  sieges  to  be  undertaken,  and  the  towns  to  be 
defended,  swelled  the  charges  of  war  immensely,  and, 
by  creating  demands  unknown  in  less  active  times, 


STATE    OF  EUROPE.  I2- 

J 

multiplied  taxes  in  every  kingdom.  The  progress  of 
ambition,  however,  was  so  rapid,  and  princes  extended 
their  operations  so  fast,  that  it  was  impossible  at  first 
to  establish  funds  proportional  to  the  increase  of 
expense  which  these  occasioned.  When  Charles  VIII. 
invaded  Naples,  the  sums  requisite  for  carrying  on  that 
enterprise  so  far  exceeded  those  which  France  had 
been  accustomed  to  contribute  for  the  support  of  gov- 
ernment that  before  he  reached  the  frontiers  of  Italy 
his  treasury  was  exhausted,  and  the  domestic  resources 
of  which  his  extensive  prerogative  gave  him  the  com- 
mand were  at  an  end.  As  he  durst  not  venture  to  lay 
any  imposition  on  his  people,  oppressed  already  with 
the  weight  of  unusual  burdens,  the  only  expedient  that 
remained  was  to  borrow  of  the  Genoese  as  much  money 
as  might  enable  him  to  continue  his  march.  But  he 
could  not  obtain  a  sufficient  sum  without  consenting  to 
pay  annually  the  exorbitant  interest  of  forty-two  livres 
for  every  hundred  that  he  received.12  We  may  observe 
the  same  disproportion  between  the  efforts  and  revenues 
of  other  princes,  his  contemporaries.  From  this  period 
taxes  went  on  increasing ;  and  during  the  reign  of 
Charles  V.  such  sums  were  levied  in  every  state  as 
would  have  appeared  enormous  at  the  close  of  the 
fifteenth  century,  and  gradually  prepared  the  way  for 
the  still  more  exorbitant  exactions  of  modern  times. 

The  last  transaction,  previous  to  the  reign  of  Charles 
V.,  that  merits  attention  on  account  of  its  influence 
upon  the  state  of  Europe,  is  the  league  of  Cambray. 
To  humble  the  republic  of  Venice  and  to  divide  its 
territories  was  the  object  of  all  the  powers  who  united 

12  Memoires  de  Comines,  lib.  vii.  c.  5,  p.  440. 


126  A   VIEW  OF  THE 

in  this  confederacy.  The  civil  constitution  of  Venice, 
established  on  a  firm  basis,  had  suffered  no  considerable 
alteration  for  several  centuries;  during  which  the  senate 
conducted  its  affairs  by  maxims  of  policy  no  less  pru- 
dent than  vigorous,  and  adhered  to  these  with  a  uni- 
form, consistent  spirit  which  gave  that  commonwealth 
great  advantage  over  other  states,  whose  views  and 
measures  changed  as  often  as  the  form  of  their  govern- 
ment, or  the  persons  who  administered  it.  By  these 
unintermitted  exertions  of  wisdom  and  valor  the  Vene- 
tians enlarged  the  dominions  of  their  commonwealth 
until  it  became  the  most  considerable  power  in  Italy; 
while  their  extensive  commerce,  the  useful  and  curious 
manufactures  which  they  carried  on,  together  with  the 
large  share  which  they  had  acquired  of  the  lucrative 
commerce  with  the  East,  rendered  Venice  the  most 
opulent  state  in  Europe. 

The  power  of  the  Venetians  was  the  object  of  terror 
to  their  Italian  neighbors.  Their  wealth  was  viewed 
with  envy  by  the  greatest  monarchs,  who  could  not  vie 
with  many  of  their  private  citizens  in  the  magnificence 
of  their  buildings,  in  the  richness  of  their  dress  and 
furniture,  or  in  splendor  and  elegance  of  living.13  Julius 
II.,  whose  ambition  was  superior,  and  his  abilities  equal, 
to  those  of  any  pontiff  who  ever  sat  on  the  papal  throne, 
conceived  the  idea  of  this  league  against  the  Venetians, 
and  endeavored,  by  applying  to  those  passions  which  I 
have  mentioned,  to  persuade  other  princes  to  join  it. 
By  working  upon  the  fears  of  the  Italian  powers,  and 
upon  the  avarice  of  several  monarchs  beyond  the  Alps, 
he  induced  them,  in  concurrence  with  other  causes, 

'3  Heliani  Oratio,  apud  Goldastum,  in  Polit.  Imperial.,  p.  980. 


STATE    OF  EUROPE. 


127 


which  it  is  not  ray  province  to  explain,  to  form  one  of 
the  most  powerful  confederacies  that  Europe  had  ever 
beheld,  against  those  haughty  republicans. 

The  emperor,  the  king  of  France,  the  king  of  Aragon, 
and  the  pope,  were  principals  in  the  league  of  Cambray, 
to  which  almost  all  the  princes  of  Italy  acceded,  the 
least  considerable  of  them  hoping  for  some  share  in 
the  spoils  of  a  state  which  they  deemed  to  be  now 
devoted  to  destruction.  The  Venetians  might  have 
diverted  this  storm,  or  have  broken  its  force;  but, 
with  a  presumptuous  rashness  to  which  there  is  nothing 
similar  in  the  course  of  their  history,  they  waited  its 
approach.  The  impetuous  valor  of  the  French  rendered 
ineffectual  all  their  precautions  for  the  safety  of  the 
republic  ;  and  the  fatal  battle  of  Ghiarraddada  entirely 
ruined  the  army  on  which  they  relied  for  defence. 
Julius  seized  all  the  towns  which  they  held  in  the 
ecclesiastical  territories.  Ferdinand  re-annexed  the 
towns  of  which  they  had  got  possession  on  the  coast 
of  Calabria  to  his  Neapolitan  dominions.  Maximilian, 
at  the  head  of  a  powerful  army,  advanced  towards 
Venice  on  the  one  side.  The  French  pushed  their 
conquests  on  the  other.  The  Venetians,  surrounded 
by  so  many  enemies,  and  left  without  one  ally,  sunk 
from  the  height  of  presumption  to  the  depths  of  de- 
spair, abandoned  all  their  territories  on  the  continent, 
and  shut  themselves  up  in  their  capital,  as  their  last 
refuge  and  the  only  place  which  they  hoped  to  preserve. 

This  rapid  success,  however,  proved  fatal  to  the  con- 
federacy. The  members  of  it,  whose  union  continued 
while  they  were  engaged  in  seizing  their  prey,  began  to 
feel  their  ancient  jealousies  and  animosities  revive  as 


I28  A    VIEW  OF   THE 

soon  as  they  had  a  prospect  of  dividing  it.  When  the 
Venetians  observed  these  symptoms  of  distrust  and  alien- 
ation, a  ray  of  hope  broke  in  upon  them  :  the  spirit 
natural  to  their  counsels  returned ;  they  resumed  such 
wisdom  and  firmness  as  made  some  atonement  for  their 
former  imprudence  and  dejection  ;  they  recovered  part 
of  the  territory  which  they  had  lost ;  they  appeased  the 
pope  and  Ferdinand  by  well-timed  concessions  in  their 
favor ;  and  at  length  dissolved  the  confederacy  which 
had  brought  their  commonwealth  to  the  brink  of  ruin. 
Julius,  elated  with  beholding  the  effects  of  a  league 
which  lie  himself  had  planned,  and  imagining  that 
nothing  was  too  arduous  for  him  to  undertake,  conceived 
the  idea  of  expelling  every  foreign  power  out  of  Italy, 
and  bent  all  the  force  of  his  mind  towards  executing  a 
scheme  so  well  suited  to  his  enterprising  genius.  He 
directed  his  first  attack  against  the  French,  who,  on 
many  accounts,  were  more  odious  to  the  Italians  than 
any  of  the  foreigners  who  had  acquired  dominion  in 
their  country.  By  his  activity  and  address,  he  pre- 
vailed on  most  of  the  powers  who  had  joined  in  the 
league  of  Cambray  to  turn  their  arms  against  the  king 
of  France,  their  former  ally,  and  engaged  Henry  VIII., 
who  had  lately  ascended  the  throne  of  England,  to 
favor  their  operations  by  invading  France.  Louis  XII. 
resisted  all  the  efforts  of  this  formidable  and  unexpected 
confederacy  with  undaunted  fortitude.  Hostilities  were 
carried  on,  during  several  campaigns,  in  Italy,  on  the 
frontiers  of  Spain,  and  in  Picardy,  with  alternate  suc- 
cess. Exhausted,  at  length,  by  the  variety  as  well  as 
extent  of  his  operations,  unable  to  withstand  a  con- 
federacy which  brought  against  him  superior  force, 


STATE    OF  EUROPE. 


129 


conducted  with  wisdom  and  acting  with  perseverance, 
Louis  found  it  necessary  to  conclude  separate  treaties 
of  peace  with  his  enemies;  and  the  Avar  terminated 
with  the  loss  of  every  thing  which  the  French  had 
acquired  in  Italy,  except  the  castle  of  Milan  and  a  few 
inconsiderable  towns  in  that  duchy. 

The  various  negotiations  carried  on  during  this  busy 
period,  and  the  different  combinations  formed  among 
powers  hitherto  little  connected  with  each  other,  greatly 
increased  that  intercourse  among  the  nations  of  Europe 
which  I  have  mentioned  as  one  effect  of  the  events  in 
the  fifteenth  century;  while  the  greatness  of  the  objects 
at  which  different  nations  aimed,  the  distant  expedi- 
tions which  they  undertook,  as  well  as  the  length  and 
obstinacy  of  the  contest  in  which  they  engaged,  obliged 
them  to  exert  themselves  with  a  vigor  and  perseverance 
unknown  in  the  preceding  ages. 

Those  active  scenes  which  the  following  history  will 
exhibit,  as  well  as  the  variety  and  importance  of  those 
transactions  which  distinguish  the  period  to  which  it 
extends,  are  not  to  be  ascribed  solely  to  the  ambition, 
to  the  abilities,  or  to  the  rivalship  of  Charles  V.  and 
of  Francis  I.  The  kingdoms  of  Europe  had  arrived  at 
such  a  degree  of  improvement  in  the  internal  adminis- 
tration of  government,  and  princes  had  acquired  such 
command  of  the  national  force  which  was  to  be  exerted 
in  foreign  wars,  that  they  were  in  a  condition  to  enlarge 
the  sphere  of  their  operations,  to  multiply  their  claims 
and  pretensions,  and  to  increase  the  vigor  of  their 
efforts.  Accordingly,  the  sixteenth  century  opened 
with  the  certain  prospect  of  its  abounding  in  great 
and  interesting  events. 

F* 


SECTION    III. 

VIEW  OF  THE  POLITICAL  CONSTITUTION  OF  THE  PRIN- 
CIPAL STATES  IN  EUROPE  AT  THE  COMMENCEMENT 
OF  THE  SIXTEENTH  CENTURY. 

Italy  at  the  Beginning  of  the  Sixteenth  Century. — The  Papal  Power. 
• — Alexander  VI.  and  Julius  II. — Defects  in  Ecclesiastical  Govern- 
ments.—Venice  :  its  Rise  and  Progress ;  its  Naval  Power  and  its 
Commerce. — Florence. — Naples  and  Sicily. — Contest  for  its  Crown. 
— Duchy  of  Milan. — Ludovico  Sforza. — Spain;  conquered  by  the 
Vandals  and  by  the  Moors ;  gradually  re-conquered  by  the  Chris- 
tians.— Marriage  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella. — The  Royal  Preroga- 
tive.— Constitution  of  Aragon  and  of  Castile. — Internal  Disorders. 
— "The  Holy  Brotherhood." — France;  its  Constitution  and  Gov- 
ernment.— The  Power  of  its  Early  Kings. — Government  becomes 
purely  Monarchical,  though  restrained  by  the  Nobles  and  the 
Parliaments. — The  German  Empire. — Power  of  the  Nobles  and  of 
the  Clergy. — Contests  between  the  Popes  and  the  Emperors. — 
Decline  of  Imperial  Authority. — Total  Change  of  Government. — 
Maximilian. — The  real  Power- and  Revenues  of  the  Emperors, 
contrasted  with  their  Pretensions. — Complication  of  Difficulties. — 
Origin  of  the  Turkish  Empire ;  its  Character. — The  Janizaries. — 
Solyman. 

HAVING  thus  enumerated  the  principal  causes  and 
events  the  influence  of  which  was  felt  in  every  part  of 
Europe,  and  contributed"  either  to  improve  internal 
order  and  police  in  its  various  states,  or  to  enlarge  the 
sphere  of  their  activity,  by  giving  them  more  entire 
command  of  the  force  with  which  foreign  operations 
are  carried  on,  nothing  farther  seems  requisite  for  pre- 
paring my  readers  to  enter,  with  full  information,  upon 
(  '3°) 


A    VIEW  OF   THE   STATE    OF  EUROPE.      131 

perusing  the  history  of  Charles  V.,  but  to  give  a  view 
of  the  political  constitution  and  form  of  civil  govern- 
ment in  each  of  the  nations  which  acted  any  consider- 
able part  during  that  period.  For  as  the  institutions 
and  events  which  I  have  endeavored  to  illustrate  formed 
the  people  of  Europe  to  resemble  each  other,  and  con- 
ducted them  from  barbarism  to  refinement  in  the  same 
path  and  by  nearly  equal  steps,  there  were  other  cir- 
cumstances which  occasioned  a  difference  in  their 
political  establishments,  and  gave  rise  to  those  peculiar 
modes  of  government  which  have  produced  such  variety 
in  the  character  and  genius  of  nations. 

It  is  no  less  necessary  to  become  acquainted  with  the 
latter  than  to  have  contemplated  the  former.  Without 
a  distinct  knowledge  of  the  peculiar  form  and  genius  of 
civil  government  in  each  state,  a  great  part  of  its  trans- 
actions must  appear  altogether  mysterious  and  inexpli- 
cable. The  historians  of  particular  countries,  as  they 
seldom  extended  their  views  farther  than  to  the  amuse- 
ment or  instruction  of  their  fellow-citizens,  by  whom 
they  might  presume  that  all  their  domestic  customs 
and  institutions  were  perfectly  understood,  have  often 
neglected  to  descend  into  such  details  with  respect  to 
these  as  are  sufficient  to  convey  to  foreigners  full  light 
and  information  concerning  the  occurrences  which  they 
relate.  But  a  history  which  comprehends  the  transac- 
tions of  so  many  different  countries  would  be  extremely 
imperfect  without  a  previous  survey  of  the  constitution 
and  political  state  of  each.  It  is  from  his  knowledge  of 
these  that  the  reader  must  draw  those  principles  which 
will  enable  him  to  judge  with  discernment  and  to  decide 
with  certainty  concerning  the  conduct  of  nations. 


132  A    VIEW  OF   THE 

A  minute  detail,  however,  of  the  peculiar  forms  and 
regulations  in  every  country  would  lead  to  deductions 
of  immeasurable  length.  To  sketch  out  the  great  lines 
which  distinguish  and  characterize  each  government  is 
all  that  the  nature  of  my  present  work  will  admit  of, 
and  all  that  is  necessary  to  illustrate  the  events  which 
it  records. 

At  the  opening  of  the  sixteenth  century  the  political 
aspect  of  Italy  was  extremely  different  from  that  of  any 
other  part  of  Europe.  Instead  of  those  extensive  mon- 
archies which  occupied  the  rest  of  the  continent,  that 
delightful  country  was  parcelled  out  among  many  small 
states,  each  of  which  possessed  sovereign  and  inde- 
pendent jurisdiction.  The  only  monarchy  in  Italy  was 
that  of  Naples.  The  dominion  of  the  popes  was  of 
a  peculiar  species,  to  which  there  is  nothing  similar 
either  in  ancient  or  modern  times.  In  Venice,  Flor- 
ence, and  Genoa,  a  republican  form  of  government  was 
established.  Milan  was  subject  to  sovereigns,  who  had 
assumed  no  higher  title  than  that  of  dukes. 

The  pope  was  the  first  of  these  powers  in  dignity, 
and  not  the  least  considerable  by  the  extent  of  his 
territories.  In  the  primitive  church,  the'  jurisdiction 
of  bishops  was  equal  and  co-ordinate.  They  derived, 
perhaps,  some  degree  of  consideration  from  the  dignity 
of  the  see  in  which  they  presided.  They  possessed, 
however,  no  real  authority  or  pre-eminence  but  what 
they  acquired  by  superior  abilities  or  superior  sanctity. 
As  Rome  had  so  long  been  the  seat  of  empire  and  the 
capital  of  the  world,  its  bishops  were  on  that  account 
entitled  to  respect ;  they  received  it ;  but  during  several 
ages  they  received,  and  even  claimed,  nothing  more. 


STATE    OF  EUROPE.  133 

From  these  humble  beginnings  they  advanced  with  such 
adventurous  and  well-directed  ambition  that  they  es- 
tablished a  spiritual  dominion  over  the  minds  and  sen- 
timents of  men,  to  which  all  Europe  submitted  with 
implicit  obedience.  Their  claim  of  universal  jurisdic- 
tion, as  heads  of  the  Church,  and  their  pretensions  to 
infallibility  in  their  decisions,  as  successors  of  St.  Peter, 
are  as  chimerical  as  they  are  repugnant  to  the  genius 
of  the  Christian  religion.  But  on  these  foundations 
the  superstition  and  credulity  of  mankind  enabled  them 
to  erect  an  amazing  superstructure.  In  all  ecclesiastical 
controversies  their  decisions  were  received  as  the  in- 
fallible oracles  of  truth.  Nor  was  the  plenitude  of 
their  power  confined  solely  to  what  was  spiritual :  they 
dethroned  monarchs,  disposed  of  crowns,  absolved  sub- 
jects from  the  obedience  due  to  their  sovereigns,  and 
laid  kingdoms  under  interdicts.  There  was  not  a  state 
in  Europe  which  had  not  been  disquieted  by  their  am- 
bition ;  there  was  not  a  throne  which  they  had  not 
shaken,  nor  a  prince  who  did  not  tremble  at  their 
power. 

Nothing  was  wanting  to  render  this  empire  absolute, 
and  to  establish  it  on  the  ruins  of  all  civil  authority, 
but  that  the  popes  should  have  possessed  such  a  degree 
of  temporal  power  as  was  sufficient  to  second  and 
enforce  their  spiritual  decrees.  Happily  for  mankind, 
at  the  time  when  their  spiritual  jurisdiction  was  most 
extensive  and  most  revered,  their  secular  dominion  was 
extremely  limited.  They  were  powerful  pontiffs,  for- 
midable at  a  distance ;  but  they  were  petty  princes, 
^without  any  considerable  domestic  force.  They  had 
early  endeavored,  indeed,  to  acquire  territory  by  arts 
Charles. — VOL.  I.  12 


134 


A   VIEW  OF   THE 


similar  to  those  which  they  had  employed  in  extending 
their  spiritual  jurisdiction.  Under  pretence  of  a  dona- 
tion from  Constantine,  and  of  another  from  Charle- 
magne or  his  father  Pepin,  they  attempted  to  take  pos- 
session of  some  towns  adjacent  to  Rome.  But  these 
donations  were  fictitious  and  availed  them  little.  The 
benefactions  for  which  they  were  indebted  to  the  credu- 
lity of  the  Norman  adventurers  who  conquered  Naples, 
and  to  the  superstition  of  the  Countess  Matilda,  were 
real,  and  added  ample  domains  to  the  holy  see. 

But  the  power  of  the  popes  did  not  increase  in  pro- 
portion'to  the  extent  of  territory  which  they  had 
acquired.  In  the  dominions  annexed  to  the  holy  see, 
as  well  as  in  those  subject  to  other  princes  in  Italy,  the 
sovereign  of  a  state  was  far  from  having  the  command 
of  a  force  which  it  contained.  During  the  turbulence 
and  confusion  of  the  Middle  Ages,  the  powerful  nobility 
or  leaders  of  popular  factions  in  Italy  had  seized  the 
government  of  different  towns;  and,  after  strengthen- 
ing their  fortifications  and  taking  a  body  of  mercenaries 
into  pay,  they  aspired  at  independence.  The  territory 
which  the  Church  had  gained  was  filled  with  petty  lords 
of  this  kind,  who  left  the  pope  hardly  the  shadow  of 
dominion. 

As  these  usurpations  almost  annihilated  the  papal 
power  in  the  greater  part  of  the  towns  subject  to  the 
Church,  the  Roman  barons  frequently  disputed  the 
authority  of  the  popes,  even  in  Rome  itself.  In  the 
twelfth  century  an  opinion  began  to  be  propagated, 
"  That  as  the  function  of  ecclesiastics  was  purely 
spiritual,  they  ought  to  possess  no  property,  and  to. 
claim  no  temporal  jurisdiction,  but,  according  to  the 


STATE    OF  EUROPE. 


'35 


laudable  example  of  their  predecessors  in  the  primitive 
church,  should  subsist  wholly  upon  their  tithes,  or  upon 
the  voluntary  oblations  of  the  people."  x  This  doctrine 
being  addressed  to  men  who  had  beheld  the  scandalous 
manner  in  which  the  avarice  and  ambition  of  the  clergy 
had  prompted  them  to  contend  for  wealth  and  to  exer- 
cise power,  they  listened  to  it  with  fond  attention. 
The  Roman  barons,  who  had  felt  most  sensibly  the 
rigor  of  ecclesiastical  oppression,  adopted  these  senti- 
ments with  such  ardor  that  they  set  themselves  instantly 
to  shake  off  the  yoke.  They  endeavored  to  restore 
some  image  of  their  ancient  liberty,  by  reviving  the 
institution  of  the  Roman  senate,  in  which  they  vested 
supreme  authority;  committing  the  executive  power 
sometimes  to  one  chief  senator,  sometimes  to  two,  and 
sometimes  to  a  magistrate  dignified  with  the  name  of 
The  Patrician.  The  popes  exerted  them  with  vigor,  in 
order  to  check  this  dangerous  encroachment  on  their 
jurisdiction.  One- of  them,  finding  all  his  endeavors 
ineffectual,  was  so  much  mortified  that  extreme  grief 
cut  short  his  days.  Another,  having  ventured  to  attack 
the  senators  at  the  head  of  some  armed  men,  was  mor- 
tally wounded  in  the  fray.2  During  a  considerable 
period,  the  power  of  the  popes,  before  which  the 
greatest  monarchs  in  Europe  trembled,  was  circum- 
scribed within  such  narrow  limits  in  their  own  capital 
that  they  durst  hardly  exert  any  act  of  authority  with- 
out the  permission  and  concurrence  of  the  senate. 
Encroachments  were  made  upon  the  papal  sove- 

1  Otto  Frisingensis  dc  Gestis  Frider.  Imp.,  lib.  ii.  cap.  10. 

2  Otto  Frising.,  Chron.,  lib.  vii.  cap.  27,  31. — Id.  de  Gest.  Frid.,  lib. 
i.  c.  27. — Muratori,  Annali  d' Italia,  vol.  ix.  pp.  398-404. 


r36 


A    VIEW  OF   THE 


reignty,  not  only  by  the  usurpations  of  the  Roman 
nobility,  but  by  the  mutinous  spirit  of  the  people. 
During  seventy  years  of  the  fourteenth  century  the 
popes  fixed  their  residence  in  Avignon.  The  inhabit- 
ants of  Rome,  accustomed  to  consider  themselves  as 
the  descendants  of  the  people  who  had  conquered  the 
world  and  had  given  laws  to  it,  were  too  high-spirited 
to  submit  with  patience  to  the  delegated  authority  of 
those  persons  to  whom  the  popes  committed  the  gov- 
ernment of  the  city.  On  many  occasions  they  opposed 
the  execution  of  the  papal  mandates,  and  on  the 
slightest' appearance  of  innovation  or  oppression  they 
were  ready  to  take  arms  in  defence  of  their  own  immu- 
nities. Towards  the  middle  of  the  fourteenth  century, 
being  instigated  by  Nicholas  Rienzo,  a  man  of  low 
birth  and  a  seditious  spirit,  but  of  popular  eloquence 
and  an  enterprising  ambition,  they  drove  all  the  nobility 
out  of  the  city,  established  a  democratical  form  of  gov- 
ernment, elected  Rienzo  tribune  of  the  people,  and 
invested  him  with  extensive  authority.  But  though  the 
frantic  proceedings  of  the  tribune  soon  overturned  this 
new  system,  though  the  government  of  Rome  was 
reinstated  in  its  ancient  form,  yet  every  fresh  attack 
contributed  to  weaken  the  papal  jurisdiction ;  and  the 
turbulence  of  the  people  concurred  with  the  spirit  of 
independence  among  the  nobility  in  circumscribing  it 
more  and  more.3  Gregory  VII.  and  other  domineering 
pontiffs  accomplished  those  great  things  which  rendered 

3  Histoire  Florentine  dc  Giov.  Villani,  liv.  xii.  c.  89,  104,  ap.  Murat., 
Script.  Rerum  Ital.,  vol.  xiii.  — Vita  di  Cola  di  Rienzo,  ap.  Murat., 
Antiq.  Ital.,  vol.  iii.  p.  399,  etc. — Hist,  de  Nic.  Rienzy,  par  M.  de 
Boispreaux,  p.  91,  etc. 


STATE    OF  EUROPE.  i^-j 

them  so  formidable  to  the  emperors  with  whom  they 
contended,  not  by  the  force  of  their  arms  or  by  the 
extent  of  their  power,  but  by  the  dread  of  their  spiritual 
censures  and  by  the  effect  of  their  intrigues,  which  ex- 
cited rivals  and  called  forth  enemies  against  every 
prince  whom  they  wished  to  depress  or  to  destroy. 

Many  attempts  were  made  by  the  popes,  not  only  to 
humble  those  usurpers  who  lorded  it  over  the  cities  in 
the  ecclesiastical  state,  but  to  break  the  turbulent  spirit 
of  the  Roman  people.  These  were  long  unsuccessful. 
But  at  last  Alexander  VI.,  with  a  policy  no  less  artful 
than  flagitious,  subdued  or  extirpated  most  of  the  great 
Roman  barons,  and  rendered  the  popes  masters  of  their 
own  dominions.  The  enterprising  ambition  of  Julius 
II.  added  conquests  of  no  inconsiderable  value  to  the 
patrimony  of  St.  Peter.  Thus  the  popes,  by  degrees, 
became  powerful  temporal  princes.  Their  territories, 
in  the  age  of  Charles  V.,  were  of  greater  extent  than  at 
present ;  their  country  seems  to  have  been  better  cul- 
tivated, as  well  as  more  populous ;  and,  as  they  drew 
large  contributions  from  every  part  of  Europe,  their 
revenues  far  exceeded  those  of  the  neighboring  powers, 
and  rendered  them  capable  of  more  sudden  and  vigor- 
ous efforts. 

The  genius  of  the  papal  government,  however,  was 
better  adapted  to  the  exercise  of  spiritual  dominion 
than  of  temporal  power.  With  respect  to  the  former, 
all  its  maxims  were  steady  and  invariable ;  every  new 
pontiff  adopted  the  plan  of  his  predecessor.  By  educa- 
tion and  habit,  ecclesiastics  were  so  formed  that  the 
character  of  the  individual  was  sunk  in  that  of  the 
profession,  and  the  passions  of  the  man  were  sacrificed 
12* 


138  A    VIEW  OF  THE 

to  the  interest  and  honor  of  the  order.  The  hands 
which  held  the  reins  of  administration  might  change, 
but  the  spirit  which  conducted  them  was  always  the 
same.  While  the  measures  of  other  governments  fluctu- 
ated, and  the  objects  at  which  they  aimed  varied,  the 
Church  kept  one  end  in  view ;  and  to  this  unrelaxing 
constancy  of  pursuit  it  was  indebted  for  its  success  in 
the  boldest  attempts  ever  made  by  human  ambition. 

But  in  their  civil  administration  the  popes  followed 
no  such  uniform  or  consistent  plan.  There,  as  in  other 
governments,  the  character,  the  passions,  and  the  in- 
terest of  the  person  who  had  the  supreme  direction 
of  affairs  occasioned  a  variation  both  in  objects  and 
measures.  As  few  prelates  reached  the  summit  of 
ecclesiastical  dignity  until  they  were  far  advanced  in 
life,  a  change  of  masters  was  more  frequent  in  the 
papal  dominions  than  in  other  states,  and  the  political 
system  was,  of  course,  less  stable  and  permanent. 
Every  pope  was  eager  to  make  the  most  of  the  short 
period  during  which  he  had  the  prospect  of  enjoying 
power,  in  order  to  aggrandize  his  own  family  and  to 
attain  his  private  ends;  and  it  was  often, the  first  busi- 
ness of  his  successor  to  undo  all  that  he  had  done,  and 
to  overturn  what  he  had  established. 

As  ecclesiastics  were  trained  to  pacific  arts,  and  early 
initiated  in  the  mysteries  of  that  policy  by  which  the 
court  of  Rome  extended  or  supported  its  spiritual 
dominion,  the  popes,  in  the  conduct  of  their  temporal 
affairs,  were  apt  to  follow  the  same  maxims,  and  in  all 
their  measures  were  more  ready  to  employ  the  refine- 
ments of  intrigue  than  the  force  of  arms.  It  was  in 
the  papal  court  that  address  and  subtlety  in  negotiation 


STATE    OF  EUROPE. 


139 


became  a  science ;  and  during  the  sixteenth  century 
Rome  was  considered  as  the  school  in  which  it  might 
be  best  acquired. 

As  the  decorum  of  their  ecclesiastical  character  pre- 
vented the  popes  from  placing  themselves  at  the  head 
of  their  armies  or  from  taking  the  command  in  person 
of  the  military  force  in  their  dominions,  they  were 
afraid  to  arm  their  subjects ;  and  in  all  their  operations, 
whether  offensive  or  defensive,  they  trusted  entirely  to 
mercenary  troops. 

As  their  power  and  dominions  could  not  descend  to 
their  posterity,  the  popes  were  less  solicitous  than  other 
princes  to  form  or  to  encourage  schemes  of  public 
utility  and  improvement.  Their  tenure  was  only  for  a 
short  life;  present  advantage  was  what  they  chiefly 
studied ;  to  squeeze  and  to  amass,  rather  than  to  ame- 
liorate, was  their  object.  They  erected,  perhaps,  some 
work  of  ostentation,  to  remain  as  a  monument  of  their 
pontificate ;  they  found  it  necessary,  at  some  times,  to 
establish  useful  institutions,  in  order  to  soothe  and 
silence  the  turbulent  populace  of  Rome;  but  plans 
of  general  benefit  of  their  subjects,  framed  with  a  view 
to  futurity,  were  rarely  objects  of  attention  in  the  papal 
policy.  The  patrimony  of  St.  Peter  was  worse  gov- 
erned than  any  part  of  Europe ;  and  though  a  generous 
pontiff  might  suspend  for  a  little,  or  counteract,  the 
effects  of  those  vices  which  are  peculiar  to  the  admin- 
istration of  ecclesiastics,  the  disease  not  only  remained 
without  remedy,  but  has  gone  on  increasing  from  age 
to  age ;  and  the  decline  of  the  state  has  kept  pace  with 
its  progress. 

One  circumstance  farther,  concerning  the  papal  gov- 


1 40  A   VIEW  OF   THE 

ernment,  is  so  singular  as  to  merit  attention.  As  the 
spiritual  supremacy  and  temporal  power  were  united  in 
one  person,  and  uniformly  aided  each  other  in  their 
operations,  they  became  so  blended  together  that  it 
was  difficult  to  separate  them,  even  in  imagination. 
The  potentates  who  found  it  necessary  to  oppose  the 
measures  which  the  popes  pursued  as  temporal  princes 
could  not  easily  divest  themselves  of  the  reverence 
which  they  imagined  to  be  due  to  them  as  heads  of 
the  Church  and  vicars  of  Jesus  Christ.  It  was  with 
reluctajice  that  they  could  be  brought  to  a  rupture 
with  the  head  of  the  Church ;  they  were  unwilling  to 
push  their  operations  against  him  to  extremity;  they 
listened  eagerly  to  the  first  overtures  of  accommoda- 
tion, and  were  anxious  to  procure  it  almost  upon  any 
terms.  Their  consciousness  of  this  encouraged  the 
enterprising  pontiffs  who  filled  the  papal  throne  about 
the  beginning  of  the  sixteenth  century  to  engage  in 
schemes  seemingly  the  most  extravagant.  They  trusted 
that,  if  their  temporal  power  was  not  sufficient  to  carry 
them  through  with  success,  the  respect  paid  to  their 
spiritual  dignity  would  enable  them  to  extricate  them- 
selves with  facility  and  with  honor.4  But  when  popes 

4  The  manner  in  which  Louis  XII.  of  France  undertook  and  carried 
on  war  against  Julius  II.  remarkably  illustrates  this  observation.  Louis 
solemnly  consulted  the  clergy  of  France  whether  it  was  lawful  to  take 
arms  against  a  pope  who  had  wantonly  kindled  war  in  Europe,  and 
whom  neither  the  faith  of  treaties,  nor  gratitude  for  favors  received, 
nor  the  decorum  of  his  character,  could  restrain  from  the  most  violent 
actions  to  which  the  lust  of  power  prompts  ambitious  princes.  Though 
his  clergy  authorized  the  war,  yet  Anne  of  Bretagne,  his  queen,  enter- 
tained scruples  with  regard  to  the  lawfulness  of  it.  The  king  himself, 
from  some  superstition  of  the  same  kind,  carried  it  on  faintly,  and, 
upon  every  fresh  advantage,  renewed  his  propositions  of  peace. 


STATE    OF  EUROPE.  141 

came  to  take  part  more  frequently  in  the  contests 
among  princes,  and  to  engage  as  principals  or  auxili- 
aries in  every  war  kindled  in  Europe,  this  veneration 
for  their  sacred  character  began  to  abate ;  and  striking 
instances  will  occur  in  the  following  history  of  its 
being  almost  totally  extinct. 

Of  all  the  Italian  powers,  the  republic  of  Venice, 
next  to  the  papal  see,  was  most  connected  with  the 
rest  of  Europe.  The  rise  of  that  commonwealth  during 
the  inroads  of  the  Huns  in  the  fifth  century,  the  sin- 
gular situation  of  its  capital  in  the  small  isles  of  the 
Adriatic  gulf,  and  the  more  singular  form  of  its  civil 
constitution,  are  generally  known.  If  we  view  the 
Venetian  government  as  calculated  for  the  order  of 
nobles  alone,  its  institutions  may  be  pronounced  ex- 
cellent ;  the  deliberative,  legislative,  and  executive 
powers  are  so  admirably  distributed  and  adjusted  that 
it  must  be  regarded  as  a  perfect  model  of  political 
wisdom.  But  if  we  consider  it  as  formed  for  a  numer- 
ous body  of  people  subject  to  its  jurisdiction,  it  will 
appear  a  rigid  and  partial  aristocracy,  which  lodges 
all  power  in  the  hands  of  a  few  members  of  the  com- 
munity, while  it  degrades  and  oppresses  the  rest. 

The  spirit  of  government  in  a  commonwealth  of  this 

(Mezeray,  Hist,  de  France,  fol.  edit.,  1685,  torn.  i.  p.  852.)  I  shall 
produce  another  proof  of  this  reverence  for  the  papal  character,  still 
more  striking.  Guicciardini,  the  most  sagacious,  perhaps,  of  all 
modern  historians,  and  the  boldest  in  painting  the  vices  and  ambition 
of  the  popes,  represents  the  death  of  Migliau,  a  Spanish  officer  who 
was  killed  during  the  siege  of  Naples,  as  a  punishment  inflicted  on 
him  by  Heaven  on  account  of  his  having  opposed  the  setting  of 
Clement  VII.  at  liberty.  Guicciardini,  Istoria  d'ltalia,  Genev.,  1645, 
vol.  ii.  lib.  1 8,  p.  467. 


I42  A    VIEW  OF  THE 

species  was,  of  course,  timid  and  jealous.  The  Vene- 
tian nobles  distrusted  their  own  subjects,  and  were 
afraid  of  allowing  them  the  use  of  arms.  They  encour- 
aged among  them  arts  of  industry  and  commerce,  they 
employed  them  in  manufactures  and  in  navigation,  but 
never  admitted  them  into  the  troops  which  the  state 
kept  in  its  pay.  The  military  force  of  the  republic 
consisted  entirely  of  foreign  mercenaries.  The  com- 
mand of  these  was  never  trusted  to  noble  Venetians, 
lest  they  should  acquire  such  influence  over  the  army 
as  might  endanger  the  public  liberty,  or  become  accus- 
tomed fo  the  exercise  of  such  power  as  would  make 
them  unwilling  to  return  to  the  condition  of  private 
citizens.  A  soldier  of  fortune  was  placed  at  the  head 
of  the  armies  of  the  commonwealth;  and  to  obtain  that 
honor  was  the  great  object  of  the  Italian  condottieri,  or 
leaders  of  bands,  who  in  the  fifteenth  and  sixteenth 
centuries  made  a  trade  of  war  and  raised  and  hired  out 
soldiers  to  different  states.  But  the  same  suspicious 
policy  which  induced  the  Venetians  to  employ  these 
adventurers  prevented  their  placing  entire  confidence 
in  them.  Two  noblemen,  appointed  by  the  senate, 
accompanied  their  army  when  it  took  the  field,  with 
the  appellation  of  proveditori,  and,  like  the  field  depu- 
ties of  the  Dutch  republic  in  latter  times,  observed  all 
the  motions  of  the  general  and  checked  and  controlled 
him  in  all  his  operations. 

A  commonwealth  with  such  civil  and  military  insti- 
tutions was  not  formed  to  make  conquests.  While  its 
subjects  were  disarmed,  and  its  nobles  excluded  from 
military  command,  it  carried  on  its  warlike  enterprises 
with  great  disadvantage.  This  ought  to  have  taught 


STATE    OF  EUROPE.  143 

the  Venetians  to  rest  satisfied  with  making  self-preser- 
vation, and  the  enjoyment  of  domestic  security,  the 
objects  of  their  policy.  But  republics  are  apt  to  be 
seduced  by  the  spirit  of  ambition,  as  well  as  kings. 
When  the  Venetians  so  far  forgot  the  interior  defects 
in  their  government  as  to  aim  at  extensive  conquests, 
the  fatal  blow  which  they  received  in  the  war  excited 
by  the  league  of  Cambray  convinced  them  of  the  im- 
prudence and  danger  of  making  violent  efforts  in 
opposition  to  the  genius  and  tendency  of  their  con- 
stitution. 

It  is  not,  however,  by  its  military,  but  by  its  naval 
and  commercial  power  that  the  importance  of  the 
Venetian  commonwealth  must  be  estimated.  The  lat- 
ter constituted  the  real  force  and  nerves  of  the  state. 
The  jealousy  of  government  did  not  extend  to  this  de- 
partment. Nothing  was  apprehended  from  this  quarter 
that  could  prove  formidable  to  liberty.  The  senate 
encouraged  the  nobles  to  trade,  and  to  serve  on  board 
the  fleet.  They  became  merchants  and  admirals. 
They  increased  the  wealth  of  their  country  by  their 
industry.  They  added  to  its  dominions  by  the  valor 
with  which  they  conducted  its  naval  armaments. 

Commerce  was  an  inexhaustible  source  of  opulence 
to  the  Venetians.  All  the  nations  in  Europe  depended 
upon  them,  not  only  for  the  commodities  of  the  East, 
but  for  various  manufactures  fabricated  by  them  alone, 
or  finished  with  a  dexterity  and  elegance  unknown  in 
other  countries.  From  this  extensive  commerce  the 
state  derived  such  immense  supplies  as  concealed  those 
vices  in  its  constitution  which  I  have  mentioned,  and 
enabled  it  to  keep  on  foot  such  armies  as  were  not  only 


144  A    VIEW  OF   THE 

an  over-match  for  the  force  which  any  of  its  neighbors 
could  bring  into  the  field,  but  were  sufficient  to  con- 
tend, for  some  time,  with  the  powerful  monarchs  be- 
yond the  Alps.  During  its  struggles  with  the  princes 
united  against  it  by  the  league  at  Cambray,  the  re- 
public levied  sums  which  even  in  the  present  age  would 
be  deemed  considerable  ;  and  while  the  king  of  France 
paid  the  exorbitant  interest  which  I  have  mentioned 
for  the  money  advanced  to  him,  and  the  emperor, 
eager  to  borrow,  but  destitute  of  credit,  was  known  by 
the  name  of  Maximilian  the  Moneyless,  the  Venetians 
raised  whatever  sums  they  pleased,  at  the  moderate 
premium  of  five  in  the  hundred.5 

The  constitution  of  Florence  was  perfectly  the  re- 
verse of  the  Venetian.  It  partook  as  much  of  demo- 
cratical  turbulence  and  licentiousness,  as  the  other  of 
aristocratical  rigor.  Florence,  however,  was  a  com- 
mercial, not  a  military  democracy.  The  nature  of  its 
institutions  was  favorable  to  commerce,  and  the  genius 
of  the  people  was  turned  towards  it.  The  vast  wealth 
which  the  family  of  Medici  had  acquired  by  trade, 
together  with  the  magnificence,  the  generosity,  and 
the  virtue  of  the  first  Cosmo,  gave  him  such  an  as- 
cendant over  the  affections  as  well  as  the  counsels 
of  his  countrymen  that  though  the  forms  of  popular 
government  were  preserved,  though  the  various  de- 
partments of  administration  were  filled  by  magistrates 
distinguished  by  the  ancient  names  and  elected  in  the 
usual  manner,  he  was  in  reality  the  head  of  the  com- 
monwealth, and  in  the  station  of  a  private  citizen  he 

5  Hist,  de  la  Ligue  faite  &  Cambray,  par  M.  1'Abbe  du  Bos,  liv.  v. — 
Sandi,  Storia  civile  Veneziana,  liv.  viii.  c.  16,  p.  891,  etc. 


STATE    OF  EUROPE.  145 

possessed  supreme  authority.  Cosmo  transmitted  a 
considerable  degree  of  this  power  to  his  descendants ; 
and  during  a  greater  part  of  the  fifteenth  century  the 
political  state  of  Florence  was  extremely  singular.  The 
appearance  of  republican  government  subsisted,  the 
people  were  passionately  attached  to  it,  and  on  some 
occasions  contended  warmly  for  their  privileges ;  and 
yet  they  permitted  a  single  family  to  assume  the  direc- 
tion of  their  affairs,  almost  as  absolutely  as  if  it  had 
been  formally  invested  with  sovereign  power.  The 
jealousy  of  the  Medici  concurred  with  the  commercial 
spirit  of  the  Florentines  in  putting  the  military  force 
of  the  republic  upon  the  same  footing  with  that  of  the 
other  Italian  states.  The  troops  which  the  Florentines 
employed  in  their  wars  consisted  almost  entirely  of 
mercenary  soldiers,  furnished  by  the  condottieri,  or 
leaders  of  bands,  whom  they  took  into  their  pay. 

In  the  kingdom  of  Naples,  to  which  the  sovereignty 
of  the  island  of  Sicily  was  annexed,  the  feudal  govern- 
ment was  established  in  the  same  form  and  with  the 
same  defects  as  in  the  other  nations  of  Europe.  The 
frequent  and  violent  revolutions  which  happened  in 
that  monarchy  had  considerably  increased  these  defects, 
and  rendered  them  more  intolerable.  The  succession 
to  the  crown  of  Naples  had  been  so  often  interrupted 
or  altered,  and  so  many  princes  of  foreign  blood  had  at 
different  periods  obtained  possession  of  the  throne,  that 
the  Neapolitan  nobility  had  lost  in  a  great  measure  that 
attachment  to  the  family  of  their  sovereigns,  as  well  as 
that  reverence  for  their  persons,  which  in  other  feudal 
kingdoms  contributed  to  set  some  bounds  to  the  en- 
croachments of  the  barons  upon  the  royal  prerogative 
Charles.— Vol..  I. — c  13 


146  A    VIEW  OF 

and  power.  At  the  same  time,  the  different  pretenders 
to  the  crown  being  obliged  to  court  the  barons  who 
adhered  to  them  and  on  whose  support  they  depended 
for  the  success  of  their  claims,  they  augmented  their 
privileges  by  liberal  concessions  and  connived  at  their 
boldest  usurpations.  Even  when  seated  on  the  throne, 
it  was  dangerous  for  a  prince  who  held  his  sceptre  by 
a  disputed  title  to  venture  on  any  step  towards  ex- 
tending his  own  power  or  circumscribing  that  of  the 
nobles. 

From,  all  these  causes,  the  kingdom  of  Naples  was 
the  most  turbulent  of  any  in  Europe,  and  the  authority 
of  its  monarchs  the  least  extensive.  Though  Ferdinand 
I.,  who  began  his  reign  in  the  year  1468,  attempted  to 
break  the  power  of  the  aristocracy,  though  his  son 
Alphonso,  that  he  might  crush  it  at  once  by  cutting  off 
the  leaders  of  greatest  reputation  and  influence  among 
the  Neapolitan  barons,  ventured  to  commit  one  of  the 
most  perfidious  and  cruel  actions  recorded  in  history, 
the  order  of  nobles  was  nevertheless  more  exasperated 
than  humbled  by  their  measures.6  The  resentment 
which  these  outrages  excited  was  so  violent,  and  the 
power  of  the  malecontent  nobles  was  still  so  formida- 
ble, that  to  these  may  be  ascribed,  in  a  great  degree, 
the  ease  and  rapidity  with  which  Charles  VIII.  con- 
quered the  kingdom  of  Naples.7 

The  event  that  gave  rise  to  the  violent  contests  con- 
cerning the  succession  to  the  crown  of  Naples  and 
Sicily,  which  brought  so  many  calamities  upon  these 
kingdoms,  happened  in  the  thirteenth  century.  Upon 

6  Giannone,  book  xxviii.  chap.  2,  vol.  ii.  p.  410,  etc. 

7  Id.,  ibid.,  p.  414. 


STATE    OF  EUROPE. 


147 


the  death  of  the  emperor  Frederic  II.,  Manfred,  his 
natural  son,  aspiring  to  the  Neapolitan  throne,  murdered 
his  brother,  the  emperor  Conrad  (if  we  may  believe 
contemporary  historians),  and  by  that  crime  obtained 
possession  of  it.8  The  popes,  from  their  implacable 
enmity  to  the  house  of  Swabia,  not  only  refused  to 
recognize  Manfred's  title,  but  endeavored  to  excite 
against  him  some  rival  capable  of  wresting  the  sceptre 
out  of  his  hand.  Charles,  count  of  Anjou,  the  brother 
of  St.  Louis,  king  of  France,  undertook  this ;  and  he 
received  from  the  popes  the  investiture  of  the  kingdom 
of  Naples  and  Sicily  as  a  fief  held  of  the  holy  see. 
The  count  of  Anjou' s  efforts  were  crowned  with  suc- 
cess ;  Manfred  fell  in  battle ;  and  he  took  possession 
of  the  vacant  throne.  But  soon  after,  Charles  sullied 
the  glory  which  he  had  acquired  by  the  injustice  and 
cruelty  with  which  he  put  to  death,  by  the  hands  of 
the  executioner,  Conradin,  the  last  prince  of  the  house 
of  Swabia,  and  the  rightful  heir  of  the  Neapolitan 
crown.  That  gallant  young  prince  asserted  his  title, 
to  the  last,  with  a  courage  worthy  of  a  better  fate.  On 
the  scaffold,  he  declared  Peter,  at  that  time  prince,  and 
soon  after  king,  of  Aragon,  who  had  married  Manfred's 
only  daughter,  his  heir ;  and,  throwing  his  glove  among 
the  people,  he  entreated  that  it  might  be  carried  to 
Peter,  as  the  symbol  by  which  he  conveyed  all  his 
rights  to  him.9  The  desire  of  avenging  the  insult 
offered  to  royalty  by  the  death  of  Conradin  concurred 
with  his  own  ambition  in  prompting  Peter  to  take  arms 
in  support  of  the  title  which  he  had  acquired.  From 

8  Struv.,  Corp.  Hist.  Germ.,  i.  481. — Giannone,  book  xviii.  ch.  5. 

9  Giannone,  book  xix.  ch.  4,  g  2. 


148  A   VIEW  OF  THE 

that  period  during  almost  two  centuries  the  houses  of 
Aragon  and  Anjou  contended  for  the  crown  of  Naples. 
Amidst  a  succession  of  revolutions  more  rapid,  as  well 
as  of  crimes  more  atrocious,  than  what  occur  in  the 
history  of  almost  any  other  kingdom,  monarchs  some- 
times of  the  Aragonese  line  and  sometimes  of  the  An- 
gevin were  seated  on  the  throne.  At  length  the  princes 
of  the  house  of  Aragon  obtained  such,  firm  possession 
of  this  long-disputed  inheritance  that  they  transmitted 
it  quietly  to  a  bastard  branch  of  their  family.10  [1434.] 
The  jace  of  the  Angevin  kings,  however,  was  not 
extinct,  nor  had  they  relinquished  their  title  to  the 
Neapolitan  crown.  The  count  of  Maine  and  Provence, 
the  heir  of  this  family,  conveyed  all  his  rights  and  pre- 
tensions to  Louis  XI.  and  to  his  successors.  Charles 
VIII. ,  as  I  have  already  related,  crossed  the  Alps  at  the 
head  of  a  powerful  army  in  order  to  prosecute  his  claim 
with  a  degree  of  vigor  far  superior  to  that  which  the 
princes  from  whom  he  derived  it  had  been  capable  of 
exerting.  The  rapid  progress  of  his  arms  in  Italy,  as 
well  as  the  short  time  during  which  he  enjoyed  the 
fruits  of  his  success,  have  already  been  mentioned,  and 
are  well  known.  Frederic,  the  heir  of  the  illegitimate 
branch  of  the  Aragonese  family,  soon  recovered  the 
throne  of  which  Charles  had  dispossessed  him.  Louis 
XII.  and  Ferdinand  of  Aragon  united  against  this 
prince,  whom  both,  though  for  different  reasons,  con- 
sidered as  a  usurper  and  agreed  to  divide  his  dominions 
between  them.  Frederic,  unable  to  resist  the  com- 
bined monarchs,  each  of  whom  was  far  his  superior  in 
power,  resigned  his  sceptre.  Louis  and  Ferdinand, 

10  Giannone,  book  xxvi.  ch.  2. 


STATE    OF  EUROPE.  149 

though  they  had  concurred  in  making  the  conquest, 
differed  about  the  division  of  it,  and  from  allies  became 
enemies.  But  Gonsalvo  de  Cordova,  partly  by  the  ex- 
ertion of  such  military  talents  as  gave  him  a  just  title 
to  the  appellation  of  the  great  captain,  which  the  Span- 
ish historians  have  bestowed  upon  him,  and  partly  by 
such  shameless  and  frequent  violations  of  the  most 
solemn  engagements  as  leave  an  indelible  stain  on  his 
memory,  stripped  the  French  of  all  that  they  possessed 
in  the  Neapolitan  dominions,  and  secured  the  peace- 
able possession  of  them  to  his  master.  These,  together 
with  his  other  kingdoms,  Ferdinand  transmitted  to  his 
grandson,  Charles  V.,  whose  right  to  possess  them,  if 
not  altogether  uncontrovertible,  seems  at  least  to  be  as 
well  founded  as  that  which  the  kings  of  France  set  up 
in  opposition  to  it." 

There  is  nothing  in  the  political  constitution  or 
interior  government  of  the  duchy  of  Milan  so  re- 
markable as  to  require  a  particular  explanation.  But 
as  the  right  of  succession  to  that  fertile  province  was 
the  cause  or  the  pretext  of  almost  all  the  wars  car- 
ried on  in  Italy  during  the  reign  of  Charles  V.,  it  is 
necessary  to  trace  these  disputes  to  their  source,  and 
to  inquire  into  the  pretensions  of  the  various  com- 
petitors. 

During  the  long  and  fierce  contests  excited  in  Italy 
by  the  violence  of  the  Guelf  and  Ghibelline  factions, 
the  family  of  Visconti  rose  to  great  eminence  among 
their  fellow-citizens  of  Milan.  As  the  Visconti  had 
adhered  uniformly  to  the  Ghibelline  or  imperial  in- 

11  Droits  des  Rois  de  France  au  Royaume  de  Sicile. — Memoires  de 
Comines,  edit,  de  Fresnoy,  torn.  iv.  part  ii.  p.  5. 
13* 


1 5o  A   VIEW  OF  THE 

terest,  they,  by  way  of  recompense,  received  from  one 
emperor  the  dignity  of  perpetual  vicars  of  the  empire 
in  Italy ; I2  they  were  created,  by  another,  dukes  of 
Milan  ;  and,  together  with  that  title,  the  possession  of 
the  city  and  its  territories  was  bestowed  upon  them 
as  an  hereditary  fief.13  John,  king  of  France,  among 
other  expedients  for  raising  money  which  the  calami- 
ties of  his  reign  obliged  him  to  employ,  condescended 
to  give  one  of  his  daughters  in  marriage  to  John 
Galeazzo  Visconti,  the  first  duke  of  Milan,  from  whom 
he  had  received  considerable  sums.  Valentine  Vis- 
conti, one  of  the  children  of  this  marriage,  married 
her  cousin,  Louis,  duke  of  Orleans,  the  only  brother  of 
Charles  VI.  In  their  marriage-contract,  which  the 
pope  confirmed,  it  was  stipulated  that  upon  failure  of 
heirs  male  in  the  family  of  Visconti  the  duchy  of  Milan 
should  descend  to  the  posterity  of  Valentine  and  the 
duke  of  Orleans.  That  event  took  place.  In  the  year 
1447,  Philip  Maria,  the  last  prince  of  the  ducal  family 
of  Visconti,  died.  Various  competitors  claimed  the 
succession.  Charles,  duke  of  Orleans,  pleaded  his 
right  to  it  founded  on  the  marriage-contract  of  his 
mother,  Valentine  Visconti.  Alfonso,  king  of  Naples, 
claimed  it  in  consequence  of  a  will  made  by  Philip 
Maria  in  his  favor.  The  emperor  contended  that  upon 
the  extinction  of  male  issue  in  the  family  of  Visconti 
the  fief  returned  to  the  superior  lord  and  ought  to  be 
re-annexed  to  the  empire.  The  people  of  Milan, 
smitten  with  the  love  of  liberty  which  in  that  age  pre- 
vailed among  the  Italian  states,  declared  against  the 

12  Petrarch.,  Epist.,  ap.  Struv.,  Corp.,  i.  625. 

*3  Leibnit.,  Cod.  Jur.  Gent.  Diplom.,  vol.  i.  p.  257. 


STATE    OF  EUROPE.  151 

dominion  of  any  master,  and  established  a  republican 
form  of  government. 

But  during  the  struggle  among  so  many  competitors, 
the  prize  for  which  they  contended  was  seized  by  one 
from  whom  none  of  them  apprehended  any  danger. 
Francis  Sforza,  the  natural  son  of  Jacomuzzo  Sforza, 
whom  his  courage  and  abilities  had  elevated  from  the 
rank  of  a  peasant  to  be  one  of  the  most  eminent  and 
powerful  of  the  Italian  condottieri,  having  succeeded 
his  father  in  the  command  of  the  adventurers  who  fol- 
lowed his  standard,  had  married  a  natural  daughter  of 
the  last  duke  of  Milan.  Upon  this  shadow  of  a  title 
Francis  founded  his  pretensions  to  the  duchy,  which 
he  supported  with  such  talents  and  valor  as  placed  him 
at  last  on  the  ducal  throne.  The  virtues,  as  well  as 
abilities,  with  which  he  governed,  inducing  his  subjects 
to  forget  the  defects  in  his  title,  he  transmitted  his  do- 
minions quietly  to  his  son;  from  whom  they  descended 
to  his  grandson.  He  was  murdered  by  his  grand-uncle 
Ludovico,  surnamed  the  Moor,  who  took  possession  of 
the  duchy;  and  his  right  to  it  was  confirmed  by  the 
investiture  of  the  emperor  Maximilian,  in  the  year 

I494-14 

Louis  XI.,  who  took  pleasure  in  depressing  the 
princes  of  the  blood,  and  who  admired  the  political 
abilities  of  Francis  Sforza,  would  not  permit  the  duke 
of  Orleans  to  take  any  step  in  prosecution  of  his  right 
to  the  duchy  of  Milan.  Ludovico  the  Moor  kept  up 
such  a  close  connection  with  Charles  VIII.  that  during 
the  greater  part  of  his  reign  the  claim  of  the  family  of 

*4  Ripalm.,  Hist.  Mediol.,  lib.  vi.  p.  654,  ap.  Struv.,  Corp.,  i.  930. — 
Du  Mont,  Corps.  Diplom.,  torn.  iii.  p.  ii.  333,  ibid. 


152 


A    VIEW  OF   THE 


Orleans  continued  to  lie  dormant.  But  when  the  crown 
of  France  devolved  on  Louis  XII.,  duke  of  Orleans, 
he  instantly  asserted  the  rights  of  his  family  with  the 
ardor  which  it  was  natural  to  expect,  and  marched  at 
the  head  of  a  powerful  army  to  support  them.  Ludo- 
vico  Sforza,  incapable  of  contending  with  such  a  rival, 
was  stripped  of  all  his  dominions  in  the  space  of  a  few 
days.  The  king,  clad  in  the  ducal  robes,  entered 
Milan  in  triumph;  and  soon  after,  Ludovico,  having 
been  betrayed  by  the  Swiss  in  his  pay,  was  sent  a 
prisoner  into  France,  and  shut  up  in  the  castle  of 
Loches, 'where  he  lay  unpitied  during  the  remainder 
of  his  days.  In  consequence  of  one  of  the  singular 
revolutions  which  occur  so  frequently  in  the  history  of 
the  Milanese,  his  son,  Maximilian  Sforza,  was  placed 
on  the  ducal  throne,  of  which  he  kept  possession  dur- 
ing the  reign  of  Louis  XII.  But  his  successor,  Francis 
I.,  was  too  high-spirited  and  enterprising  tamely  to 
relinquish  his  title.  As  soon  as  he  was  seated  upon  the 
throne,  he  prepared  to  invade  the  Milanese ;  and  his 
right  of  succession  to  it  appears,  from  this  detail,  to 
have  been  more  natural  and  more  just  than  that  of  any 
other  competitor.  [1512.] 

It  is  unnecessary  to  enter  into  any  detail  with  re- 
spect to  the  form  of  government  in  Genoa,  Parma, 
Modena,  and  the  other  inferior  states  of  Italy.  Their 
names,  indeed,  will  often  occur  in  the  following  his- 
tory. But  the  power  of  these  states  themselves  was  so 
inconsiderable  that  their  fate  depended  little  upon 
their  own  efforts ;  and  the  frequent  revolutions  which 
they  underwent  were  brought  about  rather  by  the 
operations  of  the  princes  who  attacked  or  defended 


STATE    OF  EUROPE. 


'S3 


them  than  by  any  thing  peculiar  in  their  internal 
constitution. 

Of  the  great  kingdoms  on  this  side  of  the  Alps, 
Spain  is  one  of  the  most  considerable;  and,  as  it  was 
the  hereditary  domain  of  Charles  V.,  as  well  as  the 
chief  source  of  his  power  and  wealth,  a  distinct  knowl- 
edge of  its  political  constitution  is  of  capital  impor- 
tance towards  understanding  the  transactions  of  his 
reign. 

The  Vandals  and  Goths,  who  overturned  the  Roman 
power  in  Spain,  established  a  form  of  government  in 
that  country,  and  introduced  customs  and  laws,  per- 
fectly similar  to  those  which  were  established  in  the 
rest  of  Europe  by  the  other  victorious  tribes  which 
acquired  settlements  there.  For  some  time,  society 
advanced,  among  the  new  inhabitants  of  Spain,  by  the 
same  steps,  and  seemed  to  hold  the  same  course,  as  in 
other  European  nations.  To  this  progress  a  sudden 
stop  was  put  by  the  invasion  of  the  Saracens  or  Moors 
from  Africa.  The  Goths  could  not  withstand  the 
efforts  of  their  enthusiastic  valor,  which  subdued  the 
greatest  part  of  Spain  with  the  same  impetuous  rapidity 
that  distinguishes  all  the  operations  of  their  arms.  The 
conquerors  introduced  into  the  country  in  which  they 
settled  the  Mahometan  religion,  the  Arabic  language, 
the  manners  of  the  East,  together  with  that  taste  for 
the  arts  and  that  love  of  elegance  and  splendor  which 
the  Caliphs  had  begun  to  cultivate  among  their  sub- 
jects. [712.] 

Such  Gothic  nobles  as  disdained  to  submit  to  the 
Moorish  yoke  fled  for  refuge  to  the  inaccessible  moun- 
tains of  Asturias.  There  they  comforted  themselves 

G* 


1 54  A   VIEW  OF  THE 

with  enjoying  the  exercise  of  the  Christian  religion 
and  with  maintaining  the  authority  of  their  ancient 
laws.  Being  joined  by  many  of  the  boldest  and  most 
warlike  among  their  countrymen,  they  sallied  out  upon 
the  adjacent  settlements  of  the  Moors  in  small  parties; 
but,  venturing  only  upon  short  excursions  at  first,  they 
were  satisfied  with  plunder  and  revenge,  without  think- 
ing of  conquest.  By  degrees  their  strength  increased, 
their  views  enlarged,  a  regular  government  was  estab- 
lished among  them,  and  they  began  to  aim  at  extend- 
ing their  territories.  While  they  pushed  on  their 
attacks  with  the  unremitting  ardor  excited  by  zeal  for 
religion,  by  the  desire  of  vengeance,  and  by  the  hope 
of  rescuing  their  country  from  oppression,  while  they 
conducted  their  operations  with  the  courage  natural  to 
men  who  had  no  other  occupation  but  war,  and  who 
were  strangers  to  all  the  arts  which  corrupt  or  enfeeble 
the  mind,  the  Moors  gradually  lost  many  of  the  advan- 
tages to  which  they  had  been  indebted  for  their  first 
success.  They  threw  off  all  dependence  on  the  Ca- 
liphs ; IS  they  neglected  to  preserve  a  close  connection 
with  their  countrymen  in  Africa;  their  empire  in  Spain 
was  split  into  many  small  kingdoms ;  the"  arts  which 
they  cultivated,  together  with  the  luxury  to  which  these 
gave  rise,  relaxed  in  some  measure  the  force  of  their 
military  institutions  and  abated  the  vigor  of  their  war- 
like spirit.  The  Moors,  however,  continued  still  to  be 
a  gallant  people,  and  possessed  great  resources.  Ac- 
cording to  the  magnificent  style  of  the  Spanish  his- 
torians, eight  centuries  of  almost  uninterrupted  war 
elapsed,  and  three  thousand  seven  hundred  battles 

*s  Jos.  Sim.  Assemanni,  Histor.  Ital.  Scriptores,  vol.  iii.  p.  135. 


STATE    OF  EUROPE. 


155 


were  fought,  before  the  last  of  the  Moorish  kingdoms 
in  Spain  submitted  to  the  Christian  arms.  [1492.] 

As  the  Christians  made  their  conquests  upon  the 
Mahometans  at  various  periods  and  under  different 
leaders,  each  formed  the  territory  which  he  had  wrested 
from  the  common  enemy  into  an  independent  state. 
Spain  was  divided  into  almost  as  many  separate  king- 
doms as  it  contained  provinces;  in  each  city  of  note  a 
petty  monarch  established  his  throne  and  assumed  all 
the  ensigns  of  royalty.  In  a  series  of  years,  however, 
by  the  usual  events  of  intermarriages,  or  succession,  or 
conquest,  all  these  inferior  principalities  were  annexed 
to  the  more  powerful  kingdoms  of  Castile  and  of 
Aragon.  At  length,  by  the  fortunate  marriage  of 
Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  the  former  the  hereditary 
monarch  of  Aragon,  and  the  latter  raised  to  the  throne 
of  Castile  by  the  affection  of  her  subjects,  all  the 
Spanish  crowns  were  united,  and  descended  in  the 
same  line.  [1481.] 

From  this  period  the  political  constitution  of  Spain 
began  to  assume  a  regular  and  uniform  appearance ; 
the  genius  of  its  government  may  be  delineated,  and 
the  progress  of  its  laws  and  manners  may  be  traced, 
with  certainty.  Notwithstanding  the  singular  revolu- 
tion which  the  invasion  of  the  Moors  occasioned  in 
Spain,  and  the  peculiarity  of  its  fate  in  being  so  long 
subject  to  the  Mahometan  yoke,  the  customs  introduced 
by  the  Vandals  and  Goths  had  taken  such  deep  root, 
and  were  so  thoroughly  incorporated  with  the  frame 
of  its  government,  that  in  every  province  which  the 
Christians  recovered  from  the  Moors  we  find  the  con- 
dition of  individuals,  as  well  as  the  political  constitu- 


156  A   VIEW  OF   THE 

tion,  nearly  the  same  as  in  other  nations  of  Europe. 
Lands  were  held  by  the  same  tenure ;  justice  was 
dispensed  in  the  same  form ;  the  same  privileges  were 
claimed  by  the  nobility,  and  the  same  power  exercised 
by  the  cortes,  or  general  assembly  of  the  kingdom. 
Several  circumstances  contributed  to  secure  this  perma- 
nence of  the  feudal  institutions  in  Spain,  notwith- 
standing the  conquests  of  the  Moors,  which  seemed 
to  have  overturned  them.  Such  of  the  Spaniards  as 
preserved  their  independence  adhered  to  their  ancient 
customs,  not  only  from  attachment  to  them,  but  out 
of  antipathy  to  the  Moors,  to  whose  ideas  concerning 
property  and  government  these  customs  were  totally 
repugnant.  Even  among  the  Christians  who  submitted 
to  the  Moorish  conquerors  and  consented  to  become 
their  subjects,  ancient  customs  were  not  entirely  abol- 
ished. They  were  permitted  to  retain  their  religion, 
their  laws  concerning  private  property,  their  forms  of 
administering  justice,  and  their  mode  of  levying  taxes. 
The  followers  of  Mahomet  are  the  only  enthusiasts  who 
have  united  the  spirit  of  toleration  with  zeal  for  making 
proselytes,  and  who,  at  the  same  time  that  they  took 
arms  to  propagate  the  doctrine  of  their  prophet,  per- 
mitted such  as  would  not  embrace  it  to  adhere  to  their 
own  tenets  and  to  practise  their  own  rites.  To  this 
peculiarity  in  the  genius  of  the  Mahometan  religion,  as 
well  as  to  the  desire  which  the  Moors  had  of  reconciling 
the  Christians  to  their  yoke,  it  was  owing  that  the  ancient 
manners  and  laws  in  Spain  survived  the  violent  shock 
of  a  conquest,  and  were  permitted  to  subsist  notwith- 
standing the  introduction  of  a  new  religion  and  a  new 
form  of  government  into  that  country.  It  is  obvious 


STATE    OF  EUROPE.  157 

from  all  these  particulars  that  the  Christians  must  have 
found  it  extremely  easy  to  re-establish  manners  and 
government  on  their  ancient  foundations  in  those  prov- 
inces of  Spain  which  they  wrested  successively  from 
the  Moors.  A  considerable  part  of  the  people  retained 
such  a  fondness  for  the  customs  and  such  a  reverence 
for  the  laws  of  their  ancestors  that,  wishing  to  see  them 
completely  restored,  they  were  not  only  willing  but 
eager  to  resume  the  former  and  to  recognize  the 
authority  of  the  latter. 

But  though  the  feudal  form  of  government,  with  all 
the  institutions  which  characterize  it,  was  thus  preserved 
in  Castile  and  Aragon,  as  well  as  in  all  the  kingdoms 
which  depended  on  these  crowns,  there  were  certain 
peculiarities  in  their  political  constitutions  which  dis- 
tinguish them  from  those  of  any  other  country  in 
Europe.  The  royal  prerogative,  extremely  limited  in 
every  feudal  kingdom,  was  circumscribed  in  Spain 
within  such  narrow  bounds  as  reduced  the  power  of 
the  sovereign  almost  to  nothing.  The  privileges  of  the 
nobility  were  great  in  proportion,  and  extended  so  far 
as  to  border  on  absolute  independence.  The  immuni- 
ties of  the  cities  were  likewise  greater  than  in  other 
feudal  kingdoms;  they  possessed  considerable  influence 
in  the  cortes,  and  they  aspired  at  obtaining  more.  Such 
a  state  of  society,  in  which  the  political  machine  was  so 
ill  adjusted  and  the  several  members  of  the  legislature 
so  improperly  balanced,  produced  internal  disorders  in 
the  kingdoms  of  Spain,  which  rose  beyond  the  pitch 
of  turbulence  and  anarchy  usual  under  the  feudal  gov- 
ernment. The  whole  tenor  of  the  Spanish  history 
confirms  the  truth  of  this  observation ;  and  when  the 
Charles. — Vol.  I.  14 


158  A    VIEW  OF    THE 

mutinous  spirit  to  which  the  genius  of  their  policy  gave 
birth  and  vigor  was  no  longer  restrained  and  overawed 
by  the  immediate  dread  of  the  Moorish  arms,  it  broke 
out  into  more  frequent  insurrections  against  the  govern- 
ment of  their  princes,  as  well  as  more  outrageous  insults 
on  their  dignity,  than  occur  in  the  annals  of  any  other 
country.  These  were  accompanied  at  some  times  with 
more  liberal  sentiments  concerning  the  rights  of  the 
people,  at  other  times  with  more  elevated  notions 
concerning  the  privileges  of  the  nobles,  than  were 
common  in  other  nations. 

In  the  principality  of  Catalonia,  which  was  annexed 
to  the  kingdom  of  Aragon,  the  impatience  of  the  people 
to  obtain  a  redress  of  their  grievances  having  prompted 
them  to  take  arms  against  their  sovereign,  John  II., 
they,  by  a  solemn  deed,  recalled  the  oath  of  allegiance 
which  they  had  sworn  to  him,  declared  him  and  his 
posterity  to  be  unworthy  of  the  throne,16  and  endeav- 
ored to  establish  a  republican  form  of  government,  in 
order  to  secure  the  perpetual  enjoyment  of  that  liberty 
after  which  they  aspired.17  Nearly  about  the  same 
period,  the  indignation  of  the  Castilian  nobility  against 
the  weak  and  flagitious  administration  of  Henry  IV. 
having  led  them  to  combine  against  him,  they  arro- 
gated, as  one  of  the  privileges  belonging  to  their  order, 
the  right  of  trying  and  of  passing  sentence  on  their 
sovereign.  That  the  exercise  of  this  power  might  be 
as  public  and  solemn  as  the  pretension  to  it  was  bold, 

16  Zurita,  Anales  de  Arag.,  torn.  iv.  pp.  113,  115,  etc. 

'7  Ferrera,  Hist.  d'Espagne,  torn.  vii.  p.  92.  —  P.  Orleans,  Revol. 
d'Espagne,  torn.  iii.  p.  155. — L.  Marinaeus  Siculus,  De  Reb.  Hispan., 
apud  Schotti  Script.  Hispan.,  fol.  429. 


STATE    OF  EUROPE.  159 

they  summoned  all  the  nobility  of  their  party  to  meet 
at  Avila ;  a  spacious  theatre  was  erected  in  a  plain 
without  the  walls  of  the  town  ;  an  image  representing 
the  king  was  seated  on  a  throne,  clad  in  royal  robes, 
with  a  crown  on  its  head,  a  sceptre  in  its  hand,  and 
the  sword  of  justice  by  its  side.  The  accusation  against 
the  king  was  read,  and  the  sentence  of  deposition  was 
pronounced,  in  presence  of  a  numerous  assembly.  At 
the  close  of  the  first  article  of  the  charge,  the  arch- 
bishop of  Toledo  advanced  and  tore  the  crown  from 
the  head  of  the  image ;  at  the  close  of  the  second,  the 
Conde  de  Placentia  snatched  the  sword  of  justice  from 
its  side ;  at  the  close  of  the  third,  the  Conde  de 
Benevente  wrested  the  sceptre  from  its  hand ;  at  the 
close  of  the  last,  Don  Diego  Lopes  de  Stuniga  tumbled 
it  headlong  from  the  throne.  At  the  same  instant, 
Don  Alfonzo,  Henry's  brother,  was  proclaimed  king 
of  Castile  and  Leon  in  his  stead.18 

The  most  daring  leaders  of  faction  would  not  have 
ventured  on  these  measures,  nor  have  conducted  them 
with  such  public  ceremony,  if  the  sentiments  of  the 
people  concerning  the  royal  dignity  had  not  been  so 
formed  by  the  laws  and  policy  to  which  they  were 
accustomed,  both  in  Castile  and  Catalonia,  as  prepared 
them  to  approve  of  such  extraordinary  proceedings,  or 
to  acquiesce  in  them. 

In  Aragon  the  form  of  government  was  monarchical, 
but  the  genius  and  maxims  of  it  were  purely  republican. 
The  kings,  who  were  long  elective,  retained  only  the 
shadow  of  power;  the  real  exercise  of  it  was  in  the 
cortes,  or  parliament  of  the  kingdom.  This  supreme 

18  Marian.,  Hist.,  lib.  xxxiii.  c.  9.     [1465.] 


i6o  A    VIEW  OF   THE 

assembly  was  composed  of  four  different  arms  or  mem- 
bers: the  nobility  of  the  first  rank;  the  equestrian  order, 
or  nobility  of  the  second  class ;  the  representatives  of 
the  cities  and  towns,  whose  right  to  a  place  in  the 
cortes,  if  we  may  give  credit  to  the  historians  of 
Aragon,  was  coeval  with  the  constitution ;  the  eccle- 
siastical order,  composed  of  the  dignitaries  of  the 
church,  together  with  the  representatives  of  the  inferior 
clergy.'9  No  law  could  pass  in  this  assembly  without 
the  assent  of  every  single  member  who  had  a  right  to 
vote.20  Without  the  permission  of  the  cortes  no  tax 
could  be  imposed,  no  war  could  be  declared,  no  peace 
could  be  concluded,  no  money  could  be  coined,  nor 
could  any  alteration  be  made  in  the  current  specie.21 
The  power  of  reviewing  the  proceedings  of  all  inferior 
courts,  the  privilege  of  inspecting  every  department  of 
administration,  and  the  right  of  redressing  all  griev- 
ances, belonged  to  the  cortes.  Nor  did  those  who 
conceived  themselves  to  be  aggrieved  address  the  cortes 
in  the  humble  tone  of  supplicants  and  petition  for 
redress :  they  demanded  it  as  the  birthright  of  freemen, 
and  required  the  guardians  of  their  liberty  to  decide 
with  respect  to  the  points  which  they  laid  before  them.23 
This  sovereign  court  was  held  during  several  centuries 
every  year ;  but,  in  consequence  of  a  regulation  intro- 
duced about  the  beginning  of  the  fourteenth  century, 
it  was  convoked  from  that  period  only  once  in  two 

J9  Forma  de  celebrar  Cortes  en  Aragon,  por  Geron.  M artel. 

20  Martel,  ibid.,  p.  2. 

21  Hier.  Blanca,  Comment.  Rer.  Aragon.,  ap.  Schot.  Script.  Hispan., 
vol.  iii.  p.  750. 

22  Martel,  Forma  de  celebrar,  p.  2. 


STATE    OF  EUROPE.  161 

years.  After  it  was  assembled,  the  king  had  no  right 
to  prorogue  or  dissolve  it  without  its  own  consent ;  and 
the  session  continued  forty  days.23 

Not  satisfied  with  having  erected  such  formidable 
barriers  against  the  encroachments  of  the  royal  pre- 
rogative, nor  willing  to  commit  the  sole  guardianship 
of  their  liberties  entirely  to  the  vigilance  and  authority 
of  an  assembly  similar  to  the  diets,  states-general,  and 
parliaments  in  which  the  other  feudal  nations  have 
placed  so  much  confidence,  the  Aragonese  had  recourse 
to  an  institution  peculiar  to  themselves,  and  elected  a 
justiza,  or  supreme  judge.  This  magistrate,  whose 
office  bore  some  resemblance  to  that  of  the  ephori  in 
ancient  Sparta,  acted  as  the  protector  of  the  people 
and  the  controller  of  the  prince.  The  person  of  the 
justiza  was  sacred,  his  power  and  jurisdiction  almost 
unbounded.  He  was  the  supreme  interpreter  of  the 
laws.  Not  only  inferior  judges,  but  the  kings  them- 
selves, were  bound  to  consult  him  in  every  doubtful 
case  and  to  receive  his  responses  with  implicit  defer- 
ence.24 An  appeal  lay  to  him  from  the  royal  judges,  as 
well  as  from  those  appointed  by  the  barons  within  their 
respective  territories.  Even  when  no  appeal  was  made 
to  him,  he  could  interpose  by  his  own  authority,  pro- 
hibit the  ordinary  judge  to  proceed,  take  immediate 
cognizance  of  the  cause  himself,  and  remove  the  party 
accused  to  the  manifestation,  or  prison  of  the  state,  to 
which  no  person  had  access  but  by  his  permission. 

*$  Hier.  Blanca,  Comment.,  p.  763. 

24  Blanca  has  preserved  two  responses  of  the  justiza  to  James  II., 
who  reigned  towards  the  close  of  the  thirteenth  century.  Blanca, 
p.  748. 

14* 


1 62  A   VIEW  OF   THE 

His  power  was  exerted  with  no  less  vigor  and  effect  in 
superintending  the  administration  of  government  than 
in  regulating  the  course  of  justice.  It  was  the  preroga- 
tive of  the  justiza  to  inspect  the  conduct  of  the  king. 
He  had  a  title  to  review  all  the  royal  proclamations  and 
patents,  and  to  declare  whether  or  not  they  were  agree- 
able to  law  and  ought  to  be  carried  into  execution. 
He,  by  his  sole  authority,  could  exclude  any  of  the 
king's  ministers  from  the  conduct  of  affairs  and  call 
them  to  answer  for  their  maladministration.  He  him- 
self was  accountable  to  the  cortes  only  for  the  manner 
in  which  he  discharged  the  duties  of  this  high  office 
and  performed  functions  of  the  greatest  importance 
that  could  be  committed  to  a  subject.25 

It  is  evident,  from  a  bare  enumeration,  of  the  privi- 
leges of  the  Aragonese  cortes,  as  well  as  of  the  rights 
belonging  to  the  justiza,  that  a  very  small  portion  of 
power  remained  in  the  hands  of  the  king.  The  Ara- 
gonese seem  to  have  been  solicitous  that  their  monarchs 
should  know  and  feel  this  state  of  impotence  to  which 
they  were  reduced.  Even  in  swearing  allegiance  to 
their  sovereign,  an  act  which  ought  naturally  to  be 
accompanied  with  professions  of  submission  and  re- 
spect, they  devised  an  oath  in  such  a  form  as  to  remind 
him  of  his  dependence  on  his  subjects.  "We,"  said 
the  justiza  to  the  king  in  the  name  of  his  high-spirited 
barons,  "who  are  each  of  us  as  good,  and  who  are 
altogether  more  powerful  than  you,  promise  obedience 
to  your  government  if  you  maintain  our  rights  and 
liberties;  but  if  not,  not."  Conformably  to  this  oath 
they  established  it  as  a  fundamental  article  in  their 

°s  Note  XXXI.  — Hier.  Blanca,  Comment.,  pp.  747,  755. 


STATE    OF  EUROPE.  163 

constitution  that  if  the  king  should  violate  their  rights 
and  privileges  it  was  lawful  for  the  people  to  disclaim 
him  as  their  sovereign,  and  to  elect  another,  even 
though  a  heathen,  in  his  place.26  The  attachment  of 
the  Aragonese  to  this  singular  constitution  of  govern- 
ment was  extreme,  and  their  respect  for  it  approached 
to  superstitious  veneration.27  In  the  preamble  to  one 
of  their  laws  they  declare  that  such  was  the  barrenness 
of  their  country,  and  the  poverty  of  the  inhabitants, 
that,  if  it  were  not  on  account  of  the  liberties  by  which 
they  were  distinguished  from  other  nations,  the  people 
would  abandon  it  and  go  in  quest  of  a  settlement  to 
some  more  fruitful  region.28 

In  Castile  there  were  not  such  peculiarities  in  the 
form  of  government  as  to  establish  any  remarkable 
distinction  between  it  and  that  of  the  other  European 
nations.  The  executive  part  of  government  was  com- 
mitted to  the  king,  but  with  a  prerogative  extremely 
limited.  The  legislative  authority  resided  in  the  cortes, 
which  was  composed  of  the  nobility,  the  dignified  ec- 
clesiastics, and  the  representatives  of  the  cities.  The 
assembly  of  the  cortes  in  Castile  was  very  ancient,  and 
seems  to  have  been  almost  coeval  with  the  constitution. 
The  members  of  the  three  different  orders,  who  had  a 
right  of  suffrage,  met  in  one  place  and  deliberated  as 
one  collective  body,  the  decisions  of  which  were  regu- 
lated by  the  sentiments  of  the  majority.  The  right  of 
imposing  taxes,  of  enacting  laws,  arid  of  redressing 
grievances  belonged  to  this  assembly ;  and,  in  order 
to  secure  the  assent  of  the  king  to  such  statutes  and 

26  Hier.  Blanca,  Comment.,  p.  720.  *7  Note  XXXII. 

28  Hier.  Blanca,  Comment.,  p.  751. 


X64  A    VIEW  OF   THE 

regulations  as  were  deemed  salutary  or  beneficial  to 
the  kingdom,  it  was  usual  in  the  cortes  to  take  no  step 
towards  granting  money  until  all  business  relative  to 
the  public  welfare  was  concluded.  The  representatives 
of  cities  seem  to  have  obtained  a  seat  very  early  in  the 
cortes  of  Castile,  and  soon  acquired  such  influence  and 
credit  as  were  very  uncommon  at  a  period  when  the 
splendor  and  pre-eminence  of  the  nobility  had  eclipsed 
or  depressed  all  other  orders  of  men.  The  number  of 
members  from  cities  bore  such  a  proportion  to  that  of 
the  whole  collective  body  as  rendered  them  extremely 
respectable  in  the  cortes.29  The  degree  of  considera- 
tion which  they  possessed  in  the  state  may  be  estimated 
by  one  event.  Upon  the  death  of  John  I.  a  council 
of  regency  was  appointed  to  govern  the  kingdom  during 
the  minority  of  his  son.  It  was  composed  of  an  equal 
number  of  noblemen  and  of  deputies  chosen  by  the 
cities ;  the  latter  were  admitted  to  the  same  rank  and 
invested  with  the  same  powers  as  prelates  and  grandees 
of  the  first  order.30  But  though  the  members  of  com- 
munities in  Castile  were  elevated  above  the  condition 
wherein  they  were  placed  in  other  kingdoms  of  Europe, 
though  they  had  attained  to  such  political  importance 
that  even  the  proud  and  jealous  spirit  of  the  feudal 
aristocracy  could  not  exclude  them  from  a  considerable 
share  in  government,  yet  the  nobles,  notwithstanding 
these  acquisitions  of  the  commons,  continued  to  assert 
the  privileges  of  their  order,  in  opposition  to  the  crown, 
in  a  tone  extremely  high.  There  was  not  any  body  of 
nobility  in  Europe  more  distinguished  for  independence 
of  spirit,  haughtiness  of  deportment,  and  bold  preten- 

29  Note  XXXIII.  3°  Marian.,  Hist.,  lib.  xviii.  c.  15. 


STATE    OF  EUROPE.  165 

sions  than  that  of  Castile.  The  history  of  that  mon- 
archy affords  the  most  striking  examples  of  the  vigilance 
with  which  they  observed,  and  of  the  vigor  with  which 
they  opposed,  every  measure  of  their  kings  that  tended 
to  encroach  on  their  jurisdiction,  to  diminish  their 
dignity,  or  to  abridge  their  power.  Even  in  their  or- 
dinary intercourse  with  their  monarchs  they  preserved 
such  a  consciousness  of  their  rank  that  the  nobles  of 
the  first  order  claimed  it  as  a  privilege  to  be  covered 
in  the  royal  presence,  and  approached  their  sovereigns 
rather  as  equals  than  as  subjects. 

The  constitutions  of  the  subordinate  monarchies 
which  depended  on  the  crowns  of  Castile  and  Aragon 
nearly  resembled  those  of  the  kingdoms  to  which  they 
were  annexed.  In  all  of  them,  the  dignity  and  inde- 
pendence of  the  nobles  were  great,  the  immunities  and 
power  of  the  cities  were  considerable. 

An  attentive  observation  of  the  singular  situation  of 
Spain,  as  well  as  the  various  events  which  occurred 
there  from  the  invasion  of  the  Moors  to  the  union  of 
its  kingdom  under  Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  will  dis- 
cover the  causes  to  which  all  the  peculiarities  in  its 
political  constitution  I  have  pointed  out  ought  to  be 
ascribed. 

As  the  provinces  of  Spain  were  wrested  from  the 
Mahometans  gradually  and  with  difficulty,  the  nobles 
who  followed  the  standard  of  any  eminent  leader  in 
these  wars  conquered  not  for  him  alone,  but  for  them- 
selves. They  claimed  a  share  in  the  lands  which  their 
valor  had  won  from  the  enemy,  and  their  prosperity 
and  power  increased  in  proportion  as  the  territory  of 
the  prince  extended. 


166  A   VIEW  OF  THE 

During  their  perpetual  wars  with  the  Moors,  the  mon- 
archs  of  the  several  kingdoms  in  Spain  depended  so 
much  on  their  nobles  that  it  became  necessary  to  con- 
ciliate their  good  will  by  successive  grants  of  new  honors 
and  privileges.  By  the  time  that  any  prince  could 
establish  his  dominion  in  a  conquered  province,  the 
greater  part  of  the  territory  was  parcelled  out  by  him 
among  his  barons,  with  such  jurisdiction  and  immuni- 
ties as  raised  them  almost  to  sovereign  power. 

At  the  same  time,  the  kingdoms  erected  in  so  many 
different  corners  of  Spain  were  of  inconsiderable  ex- 
tent. The  petty  monarch  was  but  little  elevated  above 
his  nobles.  They,  feeling  themselves  to  be  almost  his 
equals,  acted  as  such,  and  could  not  look  up  to  the 
kings  of  such  limited  domains  with  the  same  reverence 
that  the  sovereigns  of  the  great  monarchies  in  Europe 
were  viewed  by  their  subjects.31 

While  these  circumstances  concurred  in  exalting  the 
nobility  and  in  depressing  the  royal  authority,  there 
were  other  causes  which  raised  the  cities  in  Spain  to 
consideration  and  power. 

As  the  open  country,  during  the  wars  with  the  Moors, 
was  perpetually  exposed  to  the  excursions  of  the  enemy, 
with  whom  no  peace  or  truce  was  so  permanent  as  to 
prove  any  lasting  security,  self-preservation  obliged 
persons  of  all  ranks  to  fix  their  residence  in  places  of 
strength.  The  castles  of  the  barons,  which  in  other 
countries  afforded  a  commodious  retreat  from  the 
depredations  of  banditti  or  from  the  transient  violence 
of  any  interior  commotion,  were  unable  to  resist  an 
enemy  whose  operations  were  conducted  with  regular 

3'  Note  XXXIV. 


STATE    OF  EUROPE.  ^7 

and  persevering  vigor.  Cities,  in  which  great  numbers 
united  for  their  mutual  defence,  were  the  only  places  in 
which  people  could  reside  with  any  prospect  of  safety. 
To  this  was  owing  the  rapid  growth  of  those  cities  in 
Spain  of  which  the  Christians  recovered  possession. 
All  who  fled  from  the  Moorish  yoke  resorted  to  them, 
as  to  an  asylum ;  and  in  them  the  greater  part  of  those 
who  took  the  field  against  the  Mahometans  established 
their  families. 

Several  of  these  cities,  during  a  longer  or  shorter 
course  of  years,  were  the  capitals  of  little  states,  and 
enjoyed  all  the  advantages  which  accelerate  the  in- 
crease of  inhabitants  in  every  place  that  is  the  seat  of 
government. 

From  these  concurring  causes,  the  number  of  cities 
in  Spain  at  the  beginning  of  the  fifteenth  century  had 
become  considerable,  and  they  were  peopled  far  beyond 
the  proportion  which  was  common  in  other  parts  of 
Europe,  except  in  Italy  and  the  Low  Countries.  The 
Moors  had  introduced  manufactures  into  those  cities 
while  under  their  dominion.  The  Christians,  who,  by 
intermixture  with  them,  had  learned  their  arts,  con- 
tinued to  cultivate  these.  Trade,  in  several  of  the 
Spanish  towns,  appears  to  have  been  carried  on  with 
vigor;  and  the  spirit  of  commerce  continued  to  pre- 
serve the  number  of  their  inhabitants,  as  the  sense  of 
danger  had  first  induced  them  to  crowd  together. 

As  the  Spanish  cities  were  populous,  many  of  the 
inhabitants  were  of  a  rank  superior  to  those  who  resided 
in  towns  in  other  countries  of  Europe.  That  cause 
which  contributed  chiefly  to  their  population  affected 
equally  persons  of  every  condition,  who  flocked  thither 


1 68  A   VIEW  OF   THE 

promiscuously,  in  order  to  find  shelter  there,  or  in 
hopes  of  making  a  stand  against  the  enemy  with  greater 
advantage  than  in  any  other  station.  The  persons 
elected  as  their  representatives  in  the  cortes  by  the 
cities,  or  promoted  to  offices  of  trust  and  dignity  in 
the  government  of  the  community,  were  often,  as  will 
appear  from  transactions  which  I  shall  hereafter  relate, 
of  such  considerable  rank  in  the  kingdom  as  reflected 
lustre  on  their  constituents  and  on  the  stations  wherein 
they  were  placed. 

As  it,  was  impossible  to  carry  on  a  continual  war 
against  the  Moors  without  some  other  military  force 
than  that  which  the  barons  were  obliged  to  bring  into 
the  field  in  consequence  of  the  feudal  tenures,  it  be- 
came necessary  to  have  some  troops,  particularly  a 
body  of  light  cavalry,  in  constant  pay.  It  was  one 
of  the  privileges  of  the  nobles  that  their  lands  were 
exempt  from  the  burden  of  taxes.  The  charge  of  sup- 
porting the  troops  requisite  for  the  public  safety  fell 
wholly  upon  the  cities ;  and  their  kings,  being  obliged 
frequently  to  apply  to  them  for  aid,  found  it  necessary 
to  gain  their  favor  by  concessions,  which  not  only 
extended  their  immunities,  but  added  to  their  wealth 
and  power. 

When  the  influence  of  all  these  circumstances,  pecu- 
liar to  Spain,  is  added  to  the  general  and  common 
causes  which  contributed  to  aggrandize  cities  in  other 
countries  of  Europe,  this  will  fully  account  for  the 
extensive  privileges  which  they  acquired,  as  well  as  for 
the  extraordinary  consideration  to  which  they  attained, 
in  all  the  Spanish  kingdoms.33 

32  Note  XXXV. 


STATE    OF  EUROPE.  169 

By  these  exorbitant  privileges  of  the  nobility,  and 
this  unusual  power  of  the  cities,  in  Spain,  the  royal 
prerogative  was  hemmed  in  on  every  side  and  reduced 
within  very  narrow  bounds.  Sensible  of  this,  and  im- 
patient of  such  restraint,  several  monarchs  endeavored, 
at  various  junctures  and  by  different  means,  to  enlarge 
their  own  jurisdiction.  Their  power,  however,  or  their 
.abilities,  were  so  unequal  to  the  undertaking  that  their 
efforts  were  attended  with  little  success.  But  when 
Ferdinand  and  Isabella  found  themselves  at  the  head 
of  the  united  kingdoms  of  Spain  and  delivered  from 
the  danger  and  interruption  of  domestic  wars,  they 
were  not  only  in  a  condition  to  resume,  but  were  able 
to  prosecute  with  advantage,  the  schemes  for  extending 
the  prerogative  which  their  ancestors  had  attempted  in 
vain.  Ferdinand's  profound  sagacity  in  concerting  his 
measures,  his  persevering  industry  in  conducting  them, 
and  his  uncommon  address  in  carrying  them  into  ex- 
ecution, fitted  him  admirably  for  an  undertaking  which 
required  all  these  talents. 

As  the  overgrown  power  and  high  pretensions  of 
the  nobility  were  what  the  monarchs  of  Spain  felt 
most  sensibly  and  bore  with  the  greatest  impatience, 
the  great  object  of  Ferdinand's  policy  was  to  reduce 
these  within  more  moderate  bounds.  Under  various 
pretexts,  sometimes  by  violence,  more  frequently  in 
consequence  of  decrees  obtained  in  the  courts  of  law, 
he  wrested  from  the  barons  a  great  part  of  the  lands 
which  had  been  granted  to  them  by  the  inconsiderate 
bounty  of  former  monarchs,  particularly  during  the 
feeble  and  profuse  reign  of  his  predecessor,  Henry  IV. 
He  did  not  give  the  entire  conduct  of  affairs  to  persons 
Charles. — VOL.  I. — H  i. 


170 


A    VIEW  OF   THE 


of  noble  birth,  who  were  accustomed  to  occupy  every 
department  of  importance  in  peace  or  in  war,  as  if  it 
had  been  a  privilege  peculiar  to  their  order  to  be  em- 
ployed as  the  sole  counsellors  and  ministers  of  the 
crown.  He  often  transacted  business  of  great  conse- 
quence without  their  intervention,  and  bestowed  many 
offices  of  power  and  trust  on  new  men,  devoted  to  his 
interest.33  He  introduced  a  degree  of  state  and  dig- 
nity into  his  court  which,  being  little  known  in  Spain 
while  it  remained  split  into  many  small  kingdoms, 
taught  the  nobles  to  approach  their  sovereign  with 
more  ceremony,  and  gradually  rendered  him  the  object 
of  greater  deference  and  respect. 

The  annexing  the  masterships  of  the  three  military 
orders  of  St.  Jago,  Calatrava,  and  Alcantara  to  the 
crown  was  another  expedient  by  which  Ferdinand 
greatly  augmented  the  revenue  and  power  of  the  kings 
of  Spain.  These  orders  were  instituted,  in  imitation 
of  those  of  the  Knights  Templars  and  of  St.  John  of 
Jerusalem,  on  purpose  to  wage  perpetual  war  with  the 
Mahometans,  and  to  protect  the  pilgrims  who  visited 
Compostella,  or  other  places  of  eminent  sanctity  in 
Spain.  The  zeal  and  superstition  of  the  ages  in  which 
they  were  founded  prompted  persons  of  every  rank  to 
bestow  such  liberal  donations  on  those  holy  warriors  that 
in  a  short  time  they  engrossed  a  considerable  share  in 
the  property  and  wealth  of  the  kingdom.  The  master- 
ships of  these  orders  came  to  be  stations  of  the  greatest 
power  and  opulence  to  which  a  Spanish  nobleman  could 
be  advanced.  These  high  dignities  were  in  the  dis- 
posal of  the  knights  of  the  order,  and  placed  the  per- 

33  Zurita,  Anales  de  Arag.,  torn.  vi.  p.  22. 


STATE    OF  EUROPE. 


171 


sons  on  whom  they  conferred  them  almost  on  a  level 
with  their  sovereign.34  Ferdinand,  unwilling  that  the 
nobility,  whom  he  considered  as  already  too  formida- 
ble, should  derive  such  additional  credit  and  influence 
from  possessing  the  government  of  these  wealthy  fra- 
ternities, was  solicitous  to  wrest  it  out  of  their  hands 
and  to  vest  it  in  the  crown.  His  measures  for  accom- 
plishing this  were  wisely  planned  and  executed  with 
.vigor.35  By  address,  by  promises,  and  by  threats,  he 
prevailed  on  the  knights  of  each  order  to  place  Isabella 
and  him  at  the  head  of  it.  Innocent  VIII.  and  Alex- 
ander VI.  gave  this  election  the  sanction  of  papal 
authority ;  ^  and  subsequent  pontiffs  rendered  the  an- 
nexation of  these  masterships  to  the  crown  perpetual. 

While  Ferdinand  by  this  measure  diminished  the 
power  and  influence  of  the  nobility  and  added  new 
lustre  or  authority  to  the  crown,  he  was  taking  other 
important  steps  with  a  view  to  the  same  object.  The 
sovereign  jurisdiction  which  the  feudal  barons  exer- 
cised within  their  own  territories  was  the  pride  and 
distinction  of  their  order.  To  have  invaded  openly  a 
privilege  which  they  prized  so  highly,  and  in  defence 
of  which  they  would  have  run  so  eagerly  to  arms,  was 
a  measure  too  daring  for  a  prince  of  Ferdinand's  cau- 
tious temper.  He  took  advantage,  however,  of  an 
opportunity  which  the  state  of  his  kingdoms  and  the 
spirit  of  his  people  presented  him,  in  order  to  under- 

34  Note  XXXVI. 

35  Marian.,  Hist.,  lib.  xxv.  c.  5. 

3s  Zurita,  Anales,  torn.  v.  p.  22. — JElii  Anton.  Nebrissensis  Rerum 
a  Ferdinand,  et  Elizab.  gestarum  decades  ii.,  apud  Schot.  Script. 
Hispan.,  i.  860. 


172  ' 

mine  what  he  durst  not  assault.  The  incessant  depre- 
dations of  the  Moors,  the  want  of  discipline  among  the 
troops  which  were  employed  to  oppose  them,  the  fre- 
quent civil  wars  between  the  crown  and  the  nobility, 
as  well  as  the  undiscerning  rage  with  which  the  barons 
carried  on  their  private  wars  with  each  other,  filled  all 
the  provinces  of  Spain  with  disorder.  Rapine,  out- 
rage, and  murder  became  so  common  as  not  only  to 
interrupt  commerce,  but  in  a  great  measure  to  suspend 
all  intercourse  between  one  place  and  another.  That 
security  and  protection  which  men  expect  from  enter- 
ing into"  civil  society  ceased  in  a  great  degree.  Internal 
order  and  police,  while  the  feudal  institutions  remained 
in  vigor,  were  so  little  objects  of  attention,  and  the 
administration  of  justice  was  so  extremely  feeble,  that 
it  would  have  been  vain  to  have  expected  relief  from 
the  established  laws  or  the  ordinary  judges.  But  the 
evil  became  so  intolerable,  and  the  inhabitants  of  cities, 
who  were  the  chief  sufferers,  grew  so  impatient  of  this 
anarchy,  that  self-preservation  forced  them  to  have  re- 
course to  an  extraordinary  remedy.  About  the  middle 
of  the  thirteenth  century,  the  cities  in  the  kingdom 
of  Aragon,  and,  after  their  example,  those  in  Castile, 
formed  themselves  into  an  association  distinguished  by 
the  name  of  the  holy  brotherhood.  They  exacted  a 
certain  contribution  from  each  of  the  associated  towns; 
they  levied  a  considerable  body  of  troops,  in  order  to 
protect  travellers  and  to  pursue  criminals;  they  ap- 
pointed judges,  who  opened  their  courts  in  various 
parts  of  the  kingdom.  Whoever  was  guilty  of  murder, 
robbery,  or  of  any  act  that  violated  the  public  peace, 
and  was  seized  by  the  troops  of  the  brotherhood,  was 


STATE    OF  EUROPE. 


173 


carried  before  judges  of  their  nomination,  who,  without 
paying  any  regard  to  the  exclusive  and  sovereign  juris- 
diction which  the  lord  of  the  place  might  claim,  tried 
and  condemned  the  criminals.  By  the  establishment 
of  this  fraternity  the  prompt  and  impartial  adminis- 
tration of  justice  was  restored,  and,  together  with  it, 
internal  tranquillity  and  order  began  to  return.  The 
nobles  alone  murmured  at  this  salutary  institution. 
They  complained  of  it  as  an  encroachment  on  one  of 
their  most  valuable  privileges.  They  remonstrated 
against  it  in  a  high  tone,  and,  on  some  occasions, 
refused  to  grant  any  aid  to  the  crown  unless  it  were 
abolished.  Ferdinand,  however,  was  sensible  not  only 
of  the  good  effects  of  the  holy  brotherhood  with  respect 
to  the  police  of  his  kingdoms,  but  perceived  its  tend- 
ency to  abridge,  and  at  length  to  annihilate,  the  terri- 
torial jurisdiction  of  the  nobility.  He  countenanced 
it  on  every  occasion.  He  supported  it  with  the  whole 
force  of  royal  authority;  and,  besides  the  expedients 
employed  by  him  in  common  with  the  other  monarchs 
of  Europe,  he  availed  himself  of  this  institution,  which 
was  peculiar  to  his  kingdom,  in  order  to  limit  and 
abolish  that  independent  jurisdiction  of  the  nobility, 
which  was  no  less  inconsistent  with  the  authority  of 
the  prince  than  with  the  order  of  society.37 

But  though  Ferdinand  by  these  measures  considerably 
enlarged  the  boundaries  of  his  prerogative,  and  acquired 
a  degree  of  influence  and  power  far  beyond  what  any 
of  his  predecessors  had  enjoyed,  yet  the  limitations  of 
the  royal  authority,  as  well  as  the  barriers  against  its 
encroachments,  continued  to  be  many  and  strong.  The 
37  Note  XXXVI I. 

15* 


1 74  A    VIEW  OF  THE 

spirit  of  liberty  was  vigorous  among  the  people  of 
Spain ;  the  spirit  of  independence  was  high  among  the 
nobility ;  and  though  the  love  of  glory,  peculiar  to  the 
Spaniards  in  every  period  of  their  history,  prompted 
them  to  support  Ferdinand  with  zeal  in  his  foreign 
operations,  and  to  afford  him  such  aid  as  enabled  him 
not  only  to  undertake  but  to  execute  great  enterprises, 
he  reigned  over  his  subjects  with  a  jurisdiction  less 
extensive  than  that  of  any  of  the  great  monarchs  in 
Europe.  It  will  appear  from  many  passages  in  the 
following  history  that  during  a  considerable  part  of  the 
reign  of  his  successor  Charles  V.  the  prerogative  of  the 
Spanish  crown  was  equally  circumscribed. 

The  ancient  government  and  laws  in  France  so  nearly 
resembled  those  of  the  other  feudal  kingdoms  that  such 
a  detail  with  respect  to  them  as  was  necessary,  in  order 
to  convey  some  idea  of  the  nature  and  effects  of  the 
peculiar  institutions  which  took  place  in  Spain,  would 
be  superfluous.  In  the  view  which  I  have  exhibited  of 
the  means  by  which  the  French  monarchs  acquired  such 
a  full  command  of  the  national  force  of  their  kingdom 
as  enabled  them  to  engage  in  extensive  schemes  of 
foreign  operation,  I  have  already  pointed  out  the  great 
steps  by  which  they  advanced  towards  a  more  ample 
possession  of  political  power  and  a  more  uncontrolled 
exercise  of  their  royal  prerogative.  All  that  now 
remains  is  to  take  notice  of  such  particulars  in  the 
constitution  of  France  as  serve  either  to  distinguish  it 
from  that  of  other  countries,  or  tend  to  throw  any  light 
on  the  transactions  of  that  period  to  which  the  follow- 
ing History  extends. 

Under  the  French  monarchs  of  the  first  race,  the 


STATE    OF  EUROPE.  175 

royal  prerogative  was  very  inconsiderable.  The  general 
assemblies  of  the  nation,  which  met  annually  at  stated 
seasons,  extended  their  authority  to  every  department 
of  government.  The  power  of  electing  kings,  of 
enacting  laws,  of  redressing  grievances,  of  conferring 
donations  on  the  prince,  of  passing  judgment  in  the 
last  resort,  with  respect  to  every  person  and  to  every 
cause,  resided  in  this  great  convention  of  the  nation. 
Under  the  second  race  of  kings,  notwithstanding  the 
power  and  splendor  which  the  conquests  of  Charlemagne 
added  to  the  crown,  the  general  assemblies  of  the  nation 
continued  to  possess  extensive  authority.  The  right  of 
determining  which  of  the  royal  family  should  be  placed 
on  the  throne  was  vested  in  them.  The  princes,  ele- 
vated to  that  dignity  by  their  suffrage,  were  accustomed 
regularly  to  call  and  to  consult  them  with  respect  to 
every  affair  of  importance  to  the  state,  and  without 
their  consent  no  law  was  passed  and  no  new  tax  was 
levied. 

But  by  the  time  that  Hugh  Capet,  the  father  of  the 
third  race  of  kings,  took  possession  of  the  throne 
of  France,  such  changes  had  happened  in  the  political 
state  of  the  kingdom  as  considerably  affected  the  power 
and  jurisdiction  of  the  general  assembly  of  the  nation. 
The  royal  authority,  in  the  hands  of  the  degenerate 
posterity  of  Charlemagne,  had  dwindled  into  insignifi- 
cance and  contempt.  Every  considerable  proprietor 
of  land  had  formed  his  territory  into  a  barony  almost 
independent  of  the  sovereign.  The  dukes  or  governors 
of  provinces,  the  counts  or  governors  of  towns  and  small 
districts,  and  the  great  officers  of  the  crown,  had  ren- 
dered these  dignities,  which  originally  were  granted 


176  A    VIEW  OF   THE 

only  during  pleasure  or  for  life,  hereditary  in  their 
families.  Each  of  these  had  usurped  all  the  rights 
which  hitherto  had  been  deemed  the  distinctions  of 
royalty,  particularly  the  privileges  of  dispensing  justice 
within  their  own  domains,  of  coining  money,  and  of 
waging  war.  Every  district  was  governed  by  local 
customs,  acknowledged  a  distinct  lord,  and  pursued  a 
separate  interest.  The  formality  of  doing  homage  to 
their  sovereign  was  almost  the  only  act  of  subjection 
which  those  haughty  barons  would  perform ;  and  that 
bound  them  no  farther  than  they  were  willing  to 
acknowledge  its  obligation.38 

In  a  kingdom  broken  into  so  many  independent 
baronies,  hardly  any  common  principle  of  union  re- 
mained ;  and  the  general  assembly,  in  its  deliberations, 
could  scarcely  consider  the  nation  as  forming  one  body, 
or  establish  common  regulations  to  be  of  equal  force  in 
every  part.  Within  the  immediate  domains  of  the  crown 
the  king  might  publish  laws,  and  they  were  obeyed,  be- 
cause there  he  was  acknowledged  as  the  only  lord.  But 
if  he  had  aimed  at  rendering  these  laws  general,  that 
would  have  alarmed  the  barons  as  an  encroachment 
upon  the  independence  of  their  jurisdiction.  The 
barons,  when  met  in  the  great  national  convention, 
avoided  with  no  less  care  the  enacting  of  general  laws 
to  be  observed  in  every  part  of  the  kingdom,  because 
the  execution  of  them  must  have  been  vested  in  the 
king,  and  would  have  enlarged  that  paramount  power 
which  was  the  object  of  their  jealousy.  Thus,  under 
the  descendants  of  Hugh  Capet  the  states-general  (for 
that  was  the  name  by  which  the  supreme  assembly  of 

38  Note  XXXVIII. 


STATE    OF  EUROPE.  177 

the  French  nation  came  then  to  be  distinguished)  lost 
their  legislative  authority,  or  at  least  entirely  relin- 
quished the  exercise  of  it.  From  that  period  the 
jurisdiction  of  the  states-general  extended  no  farther 
than  to  the  imposition  of  new  taxes,  the  determination 
of  questions  with  respect  to  the  right  of  succession  to 
the  crown,  the  settling  of  the  regency  when  the  pre- 
ceding monarch  had  not  fixed  it  by  his  will,  and  the 
presenting  remonstrances  enumerating  the  grievances 
of  which  the  nation  wished  to  obtain  redress. 

As  during  several  centuries  the  monarchs  of  Europe 
seldom  demanded  extraordinary  subsidies  of  their  sub- 
jects, and  the  other  events  which  required  the  inter- 
position of  the  states  rarely  occurred,  their  meetings 
in  France  were  not  frequent.  They  were  summoned 
occasionally  by  their  kings,  when  compelled  by  their 
wants  or  by  their  fears  to  have  recourse  to  the  great 
convention  of  their  people;  but  they  did  not,  like  the 
diet  in  Germany,  the  cortes  in  Spain,  or  the  parliament 
in  England,  form  an  essential  member  of  the  constitu- 
tion, the  regular  exertion  of  whose  powers  was  requisite 
to  give  vigor  and  order  to  government. 

When  the  states  of  France  ceased  to  exercise  legis- 
lative authority,  the  kings  began  to  assume  it.  They 
ventured  at  first  on  acts  of  legislation  with  great  reserve, 
and  after  taking  every  precaution  that  could  prevent 
their  subjects  from  being  alarmed  at  the  exercise  of  a 
new  power.  They  did  not  at  once  issue  their  ordi- 
nances in  a  tone  of  authority  and  command.  They 
treated  with  their  subjects ;  they  pointed  out  what  was 
best,  and  allured  them  to  comply  with  it.  By  degrees, 
however,  as  the  prerogative  of  the  crown  extended,  and 

H* 


!78  A    VIEW  OF  THE 

.as  the  supreme  jurisdiction  of  the  royal  courts  came 
to  be  established,  the  kings  of  France  assumed  more 
openly  the  style  and  authority  of  lawgivers;  and  before 
the  beginning  of  the  fifteenth  century  the  complete 
legislative  power  was  vested  in  the  crown.39 

Having  secured  this  important  acquisition,  the  steps 
which  led  to  the  right  of  imposing  taxes  were  rendered 
few  and  easy.  The  people,  accustomed  to  see  their 
sovereigns  issue  ordinances,  by  their  sole  authority, 
which  regulated  points  of  the  greatest  consequence 
with  respect  to  the  property  of  their  subjects,  were  not 
alarmed  when  they  were  required  by  the  royal  edicts 
to  contribute  certain  sums  towards  supplying  the  exigen- 
cies of  government  and  carrying  forward  the  measures 
of  the  nation.  When  Charles  VII.  and  Louis  XI.  first 
ventured  to  exercise  this  new  power,  in  the  manner  in 
which  I  have  already  described,  the  gradual  increase 
of  the  royal  authority  had  so  imperceptibly  prepared 
the  minds  of  the  people  of  France  for  this  innovation 
that  it  excited  no  commotion  in  the  kingdom,  and 
seems  scarcely  to  have  given  rise  to  any  murmur  or 
complaint. 

When  the  kings  of  France  had  thus  engrossed  every 
power  which  can  be  exerted  in  government, — when  the 
right  of  making  laws,  of  levying  money,  of  keeping  an 
army  of  mercenaries  in  constant  pay,  of  declaring  war, 
and  of  concluding  peace,  centred  in  the  crown, — the 
constitution  of  the  kingdom,  which  under  the  first  race 
of  kings  was  nearly  democratical,  which  under  the 
second  race  became  an  aristocracy,  terminated  under 
the  third  race  in  a  pure  monarchy.  Every  thing  that 

39  Note  XXXIX. 


STATE    OF  EUROPE.  179 

tended  to  preserve  the  appearance  or  revive  the  memory 
of  the  ancient  mixed  government  seems  from  that  period 
to  have  been  industriously  avoided.  During  the  long 
and  active  reign  of  Francis  I.,  the  variety  as  well  as 
extent  of  whose  operations  obliged  him  to  lay  many 
heavy  impositions  on  his  subjects,  the  states-general  of 
France  were  not  once  assembled,  nor  were  the  people 
once  allowed  to  exert  the  power  of  taxing  themselves, 
which,  according  to  the  original  ideas  of  feudal  govern- 
ment, was  a  right  essential  to  every  freeman. 

Two  things,  however,  remained  which  moderated  the 
exercise  of  the  regal  prerogative  and  restrained  it  within 
such  bounds  as  preserved  the  constitution  of  France 
from  degenerating  into  mere  despotism.  The  rights 
and  privileges  claimed  by  the  nobility  must  be  con- 
sidered as  one  barrier  against  the  absolute  dominion  of 
the  crown.  Though  the  nobles  of  France  had  lost  that 
political  power  which  was  vested  in  their  order  as  a 
body,  they  still  retained  the  personal  rights  and  pre- 
eminence which  they  derived  from  their  rank.  They 
preserved  a  consciousness  of  elevation  above  other 
classes  of  citizens ;  an  exemption  from  burdens  to 
which  persons  of  inferior  condition  were  subject ;  a 
contempt  of  the  occupations  in  which  they  were  en- 
gaged ;  the  privilege  of  assuming  ensigns  that  indicated 
their  own  dignity ;  a  right  to  be  treated  with  a  certain 
degree  of  deference  during  peace ;  and  a  claim  to 
various  distinctions  when  in  the  field.  Many  of  these 
pretensions  were  not  founded  on  the  words  of  statutes, 
or  derived  from  positive  laws :  they  were  defined  and 
ascertained  by  the  maxims  of  honor,  a  title  more  deli- 
cate, but  no  less  sacred.  These  rights,  established  and 


i8o  A    VIEW  OF  THE 

protected  by  a  principle  equally  vigilant  in  guarding 
and  intrepid  in  defending  them,  are  to  the  sovereign 
himself  objects  of  respect  and  veneration.  Wherever 
they  stand  in  its  way,  the  royal  prerogative  is  bounded. 
The  violence  of  a  despot  may  exterminate  such  an 
order  of  men  ;  but  as  long  as  it  subsists,  and  its  ideas 
of  personal  distinction  remain  entire,  the  power  of  the 
prince  has  limits.40 

As  in  France  the  body  of  nobility  was  very  numerous, 
and  the  individuals  of  which  it  was  composed  retained 
a  high  sense  of  their  own  pre-eminence,  to  this  we 
may  ascribe  in  a  great  measure  the  mode  of  exercising 
the  royal  prerogative  which  peculiarly  distinguishes  the 
government  of  that  kingdom.  An  intermediate  order 
was  placed  between  the  monarch  and  his  other  subjects, 
and  in  every  act  of  authority  it  became  necessary  to 
attend  to  its  privileges,  and  not  only  to  guard  against 
any  real  violation  of  them,  but  to  avoid  any  suspicion 
of  supposing  it  to  be  possible  that  they  might  be  vio- 
lated. Thus  a  species  of  government  was  established 
in  France  unknown  in  the  ancient  world,  that  of  a 
monarchy  in  which  the  power  of  the  sovereign,  though 
unconfined  by  any  legal  or  constitutional  restraint,  has 
certain  bounds  set  to  it  by  the  ideas  which  one  class  of 
his  subjects  entertain  concerning  their  own  dignity. 

The  jurisdiction  of  the  parliaments  in  France,  par- 
ticularly that  of  Paris,  was  the  other  barrier  which 
served  to  confine  the  exercise  of  the  royal  prerogative 
within  certain  limits.  The  parliament  of  Paris  was 
originally  the  court  of  the  kings  of  France,  to  which 

f>  De  1'Esprit  des  Loix,  liv.  ii.  c.  4.— Dr.  Ferguson's  Essay  on  the 
History  of  Civil  Society,  part  i.  sect.  10. 


STATE    OF  EUROPE.  181 

they  committed  the  supreme  administration  of  justice 
within  their  own  domains,  as  well  as  the  power  of 
deciding  with  respect  to  all  cases  brought  before  it  by 
appeals  from  the  courts  of  the  barons.  When,  in  con- 
sequence of  events  and  regulations  which  have  been 
mentioned  formerly,  the  time  and  place  of  its  meeting 
were  fixed, — when  not  only  the  form  of  its  procedure, 
but  the  principles  on  which  it  decided,  were  rendered 
regular  and  consistent, — when  every  cause  of  impor- 
tance was  finally  determined  there,  and  when  the 
people  became  accustomed  to  resort  thither  as  to  the 
supreme  temple  of  justice, — the  parliament  of  Paris 
rose  to  high  estimation  in  the  kingdom,  its  members 
acquired  dignity,  and  its  decrees  were  submitted  to 
with  deference.  Nor  was  this  the  only  source  of  the 
power  and  influence  which  the  parliament  obtained. 
The  kings  of  France,  when  they  first  began  to  assume 
the  legislative  power,  in  order  to  reconcile  the  minds 
of  their  people  to  this  new  exertion  of  prerogative, 
produced  their  edicts  and  ordinances  in  the  parliament 
of  Paris,  that  they  might  be  approved  of  and  registered 
there  before  they  were  published  and  declared  to  be  of 
authority  in  the  kingdom.  During  the  intervals  between 
the  meetings  of  the  states-general  of  the  kingdom,  or 
during  those  reigns  in  which  the  states-general  were  not 
assembled,  the  monarchs  of  France  were  accustomed  to 
consult  the  parliament  of  Paris  with  respect  to  the  most 
arduous  affairs  of  government,  and  frequently  regu- 
lated their  conduct  by  its  advice,  in  declaring  war,  in 
concluding  peace,  and  in  other  transactions  of  public 
concern.  Thus  there  was  erected  in  the  kingdom  a 
tribunal  which  became  the  great  depository  of  the  laws, 
Charles.— VOL.  I.  16 


1 82  A    VIEW  OF   THE 

and,  by  the  uniform  tenor  of  its  decrees,  established 
principles  of  justice  and  forms  of  proceeding  which 
were  considered  as  so  sacred  that  even  the  sovereign 
power  of  the  monarch  durst  not  venture  to  disregard 
or  to  violate  them.  The  members  of  this  illustrious 
body,  though  they  neither  possess  legislative  authority 
nor  can  be  considered  as  the  representatives  of  the 
people,  have  availed  themselves  of  the  reputation  and 
influence  which  they  had  acquired  among  their  country- 
men, in  order  to  make  a  stand,  to  the  utmost  of  their 
ability,  against  every  unprecedented  and  exorbitant 
exertion' of  the  prerogative.  In  every  period  of  the 
French  history  they  have  merited  the  praise  of  being 
the  virtuous  but  feeble  guardians  of  the  rights  and 
privileges  of  the  nation.41 

After  taking  this  view  of  the  political  state  of  France, 
I  proceed  to  consider  that  of  the  German  empire,  from 
which  Charles  V.  derived  his  title  of  highest  dignity. 
In  explaining  the  constitution  of  this  great  and  com- 
plex body  at  the  beginning  of  the  sixteenth  century,  I 
shall  avoid  entering  into  such  a  detail  as  would  in- 
volve my  readers  in  that  inextricable  labyrinth  which 
is  formed  by  the  multiplicity  of  its  tribunals, 'the  number 
of  its  members,  their  interfering  rights,  and  by  the 
endless  discussions  or  refinements  of  the  public  lawyers 
of  Germany  with  respect  to  all  these. 

The  empire  of  Charlemagne  was  a  structure  erected 
in  so  short  a  time  that  it  could  not  be  permanent. 
Under  his  immediate  successor  it  began  to  totter,  and 
soon  after  fell  to  pieces.  The  crown  of  Germany  was 
separated  from  that  of  France,  and  the  descendants  of 

4i  Note  XL. 


STATE    OF  EUROPE.  183 

Charlemagne  established  two  great  monarchies  so  situ- 
ated as  to  give  rise  to  a  perpetual  rivalship  and  enmity 
between  them.  But  the  princes  of  the  race  of  Charle- 
magne who  were  placed  on  the  imperial  throne  were 
•not  altogether  so  degenerate  as  those  of  the  same  family 
who  reigned  in  France.  In  the  hands  of  the  former 
the  royal  authority  retained  some  vigor,  and  the  nobles 
of  Germany,  though  possessed  of  extensive  privileges 
as  well  as  ample  territories,  did  not  so  early  attain  in- 
dependence. The  great  offices  of  the  crown  continued 
to  be  at  the  disposal  of  the  sovereign,  and  during  a 
long  period  fiefs  remained  in  their  original  state,  with- 
out becoming  hereditary  and  perpetual  in  the  families 
of  the  persons  to  whom  they  had  been  granted. 

At  length  the  German  branch  of  the  family  of 
Charlemagne  became  extinct,  and  his  feeble  descend- 
ants who  reigned  in  France  had  sunk  into  such  con- 
tempt that  the  Germans,  without  looking  towards  them, 
exercised  the  right  inherent  in  a  free  people,  and  in  the 
general  assembly  of  the  nation  elected  Conrad,  count 
of  Franconia,  emperor.  After  him  Henry  of  Saxony, 
and  his  descendants,  the  three  Othos,  were  placed,  in 
succession,  on  the  imperial  throne,  by  the  suffrages 
of  their  countrymen.  The  extensive  territories  of  the 
Saxon  emperors,  their  eminent  abilities  and  enterpris- 
ing genius,  not  only  added  new  vigor  to  the  imperial 
dignity,  but  raised  it  to  higher  power  and  pre-eminence. 
Otho  the  Great  marched  at  the  head  of  a  numerous 
army  into  Italy,  and,  after  the  example  of  Charle- 
magne, gave  law  to  that  country.  Every  power  there 
recognized  his  authority.  He  created  popes,  and  de- 
posed them,  by  his  sovereign  mandate.  He  annexed 


Z84  A    VIEW  OF  THE 

.the  kingdom  of  Italy  to  the  German  empire.  Elated 
with  his  success,  he  assumed  the  title  of  Caesar  Augus- 
tus.42 A  prince  born  in  the  heart  of  Germany  pre- 
tended to  be  the  successor  of  the  emperors  of  ancient 
Rome,  and  claimed  a  right  to  the  same  power  and 
prerogative.  [952.] 

But  while  the  emperors,  by  means  of  these  new 
titles  and  new  dominions,  gradually  acquired  additional 
authority  and  splendor,  the  nobility  of  Germany  had 
gone  on  at  the  same  time  extending  their  privileges 
and  jurisdiction.  The  situation  of  affairs  was  favor- 
able to  their  attempts.  The  vigor  which  Charlemagne 
had  given  to  government  quickly  relaxed.  The  in- 
capacity of  some  of  his  successors  was  such  as  would 
have  encouraged  vassals  less  enterprising  than  the 
nobles  of  that  age  to  have  claimed  new  rights  and  to 
have  assumed  new  powers.  The  civil  wars  in  which 
other  emperors  were  engaged  obliged  them  to  pay  per- 
petual court  to  their  subjects,  on  whose  support  they 
depended,  and  not  only  to  connive  at  their  usurpations, 
but  to  permit  and  even  to  authorize  them.  Fiefs  gradu- 
ally became  hereditary.  They  were  transmitted  not 
only  in  the  direct  but  also  in  the  collateral  line.  The 
investiture  of  them  was  demanded  not  only  by  male 
but  by  female  heirs.  Every  baron  began  to  exercise 
sovereign  jurisdiction  within  his  own  domains ;  and 
the  dukes  and  counts  of  Germany  took  wide  steps 
towards  rendering  their  territories  distinct  and  inde- 
pendent states.43  The  Saxon  emperors  observed  their 
progress  and  were  aware  of  its  tendency.  But,  as  they 

42  Annalista  Saxo,  etc.,  ap.  Struv.,  Corp.,  vol.  i.  p.  246. 

43  Pfeffel,  Abrege,  pp.  120,  152. — Lib.  Feudor.,  tit.  i. 


STATE    OF  EUROPE.  185 

could  not  hope  to  humble  vassals  already  grown  too 
potent,  unless  they  had  turned  their  whole  force  as  well 
as  attention  to  that  enterprise,  and  as  they  were  ex- 
tremely intent  on  their  expeditions  into  Italy,  which 
they  could  not  undertake  without  the  concurrence  of 
their  nobles,  they  were  solicitous  not  to  alarm  them  by 
any  direct  attack  on  their  privileges  and  jurisdictions. 
They  aimed,  however,  at  undermining  their  power. 
With  this  view,  they  inconsiderately  bestowed  addi- 
tional territories  and  accumulated  new  honors  on  the 
clergy,  in  hopes  that  this  order  might  serve  as  a  coun- 
terpoise to  that  of  the  nobility  in  any  future  struggle.44 
The  unhappy  effects  of  this  fatal  error  in  policy  were 
quickly  felt.  Under  the  emperors  of  the  Franconian 
and  Swabian  lines,  whom  the  Germans,  by  their  volun- 
tary election,  placed  on  the  imperial  throne,  a  new 
face  of  things  appeared,  and  a  scene  was  exhibited  in 
Germany  which  astonished  all  Christendom  at  that 
time,  and  in  the  present  age  appears  almost  incredible. 
The  popes,  hitherto  dependent  on  the  emperors  and 
indebted  for  power  as  well  as  dignity  to  their  benefi- 
cence and  protection,  began  to  claim  a  superior  juris- 
diction, and,  in  virtue  of  authority  which  they  pre- 
tended to  derive  from  heaven,  tried,  condemned, 
excommunicated,  and  deposed  their  former  masters. 
Nor  is  this  to  be  considered  merely  as  a  frantic  sally 
of  passion  in  a  pontiff  intoxicated  with  high  ideas 
concerning  the  extent  of  priestly  domination  and  the 
plenitude  of  papal  authority.  Gregory  VII.  was  able 
as  well  as  daring.  His  presumption  and  violence  were 
accompanied  with  political  discernment  and  sagacity. 

44  Pfeffel,  Abrege,  p.  154. 
1 6* 


1 86  A   VIEW  OF   THE 

He  had  observed  that  the  princes  and  nobles  of  Ger- 
many had  acquired  such  considerable  territories  and 
such  extensive  jurisdiction  as  rendered  them  not  only 
formidable  to  the  emperors,  but  disposed  them  to  favor 
any  attempt  to  circumscribe  their  power.  He  foresaw 
that  the  ecclesiastics  of  Germany,  raised  almost  to  a 
level  with  its  princes,  were  ready  to  support  any  per- 
son who  would  stand  forth  as  the  protector  of  their 
privileges  and  independence.  With  both  of  these 
Gregory  negotiated,  and  had  secured  many  devoted 
adherents  among  them  before  he  ventured  to  enter  the 
lists  against  the  head  of  the  empire. 

He  began  his  rupture  with  Henry  IV.  upon  a  pretext 
that  was  popular  and  plausible.  He  complained  of 
the  venality  and  corruption  with  which  the  emperor 
had  granted  the  investiture  of  benefices  to  ecclesiastics. 
He  contended  that  this  right  belonged  to  him  as  the 
head  of  the  Church ;  he  required  Henry  to  confine 
himself  within  the  bounds  of  his  civil  jurisdiction,  and 
to  abstain  for  the  future  from  such  sacrilegious  encroach- 
ments on  the  spiritual  dominion.  All  the  censures  of 
the  Church  were  denounced  against  Henry  because  he 
refused  to  relinquish  those  powers  which  his  predeces- 
sors had  uniformly  exercised.  The  most  considerable 
of  the  German  princes  and  ecclesiastics  were  excited 
to  take  arms  against  him.  His  mother,  his  wife,  his 
sons,  were  wrought  upon  to  disregard  all  the  ties  of 
blood  as  well  as  of  duty,  and  to  join  the  party  of  his 
enemies.45  Such  were  the  successful  arts  with  which  the 
court  of  Rome  inflamed  the  superstitious  zeal  and  con- 
ducted the  factious  spirit  of  the  Germans  and  Italians, 

45  Annal.  German.,  ap.  Struv.,  vol.  i.  p.  325. 


STATE    OF  EUROPE.  187 

that  an  emperor  distinguished  not  only  for  many 
virtues,  but  possessed  of  considerable  talents,  was  at 
length  obliged  to  appear  as  a  supplicant  at  the  gate 
of  the  castle  in  which  the  pope  resided,  and  to  stand 
there  three  days,  barefooted,  in  the  depth  of  winter, 
imploring  a  pardon,  which  at  length  he  obtained  with 
difficulty.46  [1077.] 

This  act  of  humiliation  degraded  the  imperial  dig- 
nity. Nor  was  the  depression  momentary  only.  The 
contest  between  Gregory  and  Henry  gave  rise  to  the 
two  great  factions  of  the  Guelfs  and  Ghibellines, — the 
former  of  which,  supporting  the  pretensions  of  the 
popes,  and  the  latter,  defending  the  rights  of  the  em- 
peror, kept  Germany  and  Italy  in  perpetual  agitation 
during  three  centuries.  A  regular  system  for  humbling 
the  emperors  and  circumscribing  their  power  was 
formed,  and  adhered  to  uniformly  throughout  that 
period.  The  popes,  the  free  states  in  Italy,  the  no- 
bility and  ecclesiastics  of  Germany,  were  all  interested 
in  its  success;  and,  notwithstanding  the  return  of  some 
short  intervals  of  vigor  under  the  administration  of  a 
few  able  emperors,  the  imperial  authority  continued 
to  decline.  During  the  anarchy  of  the  long  interreg- 
num subsequent  to  the  death  of  William  of  Holland, 
it  dwindled  down  almost  to  nothing.  Rodulph  of 
Hapsburg,  the  founder  of  the  house  of  Austria,  and 
who  first  opened  the  way  to  its  future  grandeur,  was  at 
length  elected  emperor,  not  that  he  might  re-establish 
and  extend  the  imperial  authority,  but  because  his 
territories  and  influence  were  so  inconsiderable  as  to 
excite  no  jealousy  in  the  German  princes,  who  were  will- 
46  Note  XLI. 


!88  A   VIEW  OF  THE 

ing  to  preserve  the  forms  of  a  constitution  the  power 
and  vigor  of  which  they  had  destroyed.  Several  of 
his  successors  were  placed  on  the  imperial  throne 
from  the  same  motive,  and  almost  every  remaining 
prerogative  was  wrested  out  of  the  hands  of  feeble 
princes  unable  to  exercise  or  to  defend  them. 

During  this  period  of  turbulence  and  confusion  the 
constitution  of  the  Germanic  body  underwent  a  total 
change.  The  ancient  names  of  courts  and  magistrates, 
together  with  the  original  forms  and  appearance  of 
policy,  ;vere  preserved ;  but  such  new  privileges  and 
jurisdiction  were  assumed,  and  so  many  various  rights 
established,  that  the  same  species  of  government  no 
longer  subsisted.  The  princes,  the  great  nobility,  the 
dignified  ecclesiastics,  the  free  cities,  had  taken  advan- 
tage of  the  interregnum  which  I  have  mentioned  to 
establish  or  to  extend  their  usurpations.  They  claimed 
and  exercised  the  right  of  governing  their  respective 
territories  with  full  sovereignty.  They  acknowledged 
no  superior  with  respect  to  any  point  relative  to  the 
interior  administration  and  police  of  their  domains. 
They  enacted  laws,  imposed  taxes,  coined  money, 
declared  war,  concluded  peace,  and  exerted  every 
prerogative  peculiar  to  independent  states.  The  ideas 
of  order  and  political  union  which  had  originally 
formed  the  various  provinces  of  Germany  into  one 
body  were  almost  entirely  lost ;  and  the  society  must 
have  dissolved,  if  the  forms  of  feudal  subordination 
had  not  preserved  such  an  appearance  of  connection 
or  dependence  among  the  various  members  of  the  com- 
munity as  preserved  it  from  falling  to  pieces. 

This  bond  of  union,  however,  was  extremely  feeble; 


STA7'E    OF  EUXOPE.  189 

and  hardly  any  principle  remained  in  the  German 
constitution  of  sufficient  force  to  maintain  public  order 
or  even  to  ascertain  personal  security.  From  the 
accession  of  Rodulph  of  Hapsburg  to  the  reign  of 
Maximilian,  the  immediate  predecessor  of  Charles  V., 
the  empire  felt  every  calamity  which  a  state  must 
endure  when  the  authority  of  government  is  so  much 
relaxed  as  to  have  lost  its  proper  degree  of  vigor.  The 
causes  of  dissension  among  that  vast  number  of  mem- 
bers which  composed  the  Germanic  body  were  infinite 
and  unavoidable.  These  gave  rise  to  perpetual  private 
wars,  which  were  carried  on  with  all  the  violence  that 
usually  accompanies  resentment  when  unrestrained  by 
superior  authority.  Rapine,  outrage,  exactions,  became 
universal.  Commerce  was  interrupted,  industry  sus- 
pended, and  every  part  of  Germany  resembled  a  coun- 
try which  an  enemy  had  plundered  and  left  desolate.47 
The  variety  of  expedients  employed  with  a  view  to 
restore  order  and  tranquillity  prove  that  the  grievances 
occasioned  by  this  state  of  anarchy  had  grown  intoler- 
able. Arbiters  were  appointed  to  terminate  the  differ- 
ences among  the  several  states.  The  cities  united  in  a 
league  the  object  of  which  was  to  check  the  rapine  and 
extortions  of  the  nobility.  The  nobility  formed  con- 
federacies on  purpose  to  maintain  tranquillity  among 
their  own  order.  Germany  was  divided  into  several 
circles,  in  each  of  which  a  provincial  and  partial  juris- 
diction was  established,  to  supply  the  place  of  a  public 
and  common  tribunal.48 

47  See  above,  pp.  48-50  and  Note  XXI. — Datt,  de  Pace  Publica 
Imper.,  p.  25,  no.  53,  p.  28,  no.  26,  p.  35,  no.  n. 

48  Datt.,  passim. — Struv.,  Corp.  Hist.,  i.  510,  etc. 


190 


A    VIEW  OF   THE 


But  all  these  remedies  were  so  ineffectual  that  they 
served  only  to  demonstrate  the  violence  of  that  anarchy 
which  prevailed,  and  the  insufficiency  of  the  means 
employed  to  correct  it.  At  length  Maximilian  re- 
established public  order  in  the  empire,  by  instituting 
the  Imperial  Chamber,  a  tribunal  composed  of  judges 
named  partly  by  the  emperor,  partly  by  the  several 
states,  and  vested  with  authority  to  decide  finally 
concerning  all  differences  among  the  members  of  the 
Germanic  body.  A  few  years  after,  by  giving  a  new 
form  to  the  Aulic  Council,  which  takes  cognizance  of 
all  feudal  causes  and  such  as  belong  to  the  emperor's 
immediate  jurisdiction,  he  restored  some  degree  of 
vigor  to  the  imperial  authority.  [1512.] 

But,  notwithstanding  the  salutary  effects  of  these 
regulations  and  improvements,  the  political  constitu- 
tion of  the  German  empire,  at  the  commencement  of 
the  period  of  which  I  propose  to  write  the  history,  was 
of  a  species  so  peculiar  as  not  to  resemble  perfectly 
any  form  of  government  known  either  in  the  ancient 
or  modern  world.  It  was  a  complex  body,  formed  by 
the  association  of  several  states,  each  of  which  pos- 
sessed sovereign  and  independent  jurisdiction  within 
its  own  territories.  Of  all  the  members  which  com- 
posed this  united  body  the  emperor  was  the  head.  In 
his  name  all  decrees  and  regulations  with  respect  to 
points  of  common  concern  were  issued,  and  to  him  the 
power  of  carrying  them  into  execution  was  committed. 
But  this  appearance  of  monarchical  power  in  the  em- 
peror was  more  than  counterbalanced  by  the  influence 
of  the  princes  and  states  of  the  empire  in  every  act  of 
administration.  No  law  extending  to  the  whole  body 


STATE    OF  EUROPE.  191 

could  pass,  no  resolution  that  affected  the  general 
interest  could  be  taken,  without  the  approbation  of  the 
diet  of  the  empire.  In  this  assembly  every  sovereign 
prince  and  state  of  the  Germanic  body  had  a  right  to 
be  present,  to  deliberate,  and  to  vote.  The  decrees, 
or  recesses,  of  the  diet  were  the  laws  of  the  empire, 
which  the  emperor  was  bound  to  ratify  and  enforce. 

Under  this  aspect,  the  constitution  of  the  empire 
appears  a  regular  confederacy,  similar  to  the  Achaean 
league  in  ancient  Greece,  or  to  that  of  the  United 
Provinces,  and  of  the  Swiss  Cantons,  in  modern  times. 
But,  if  viewed  in  another  light,  striking  peculiarities 
in  its  political  state  present  themselves.  The  Ger- 
manic body  was  not  formed  by  the  union  of  members 
altogether  distinct  and  independent.  All  the  princes 
and  states  joined  in  this  association  were  originally 
subject  to  the  emperors  and  acknowledged  them  as 
sovereigns.  Besides  this,  they  originally  held  their 
lands  as  imperial  fiefs,  and  in  consequence  of  this 
tenure  owed  the  emperor  all  those  services  which  feudal 
vassals  are  bound  to  perform  to  their  liege  lord.  But 
though  this  political  subjection  was  entirely  at  an  end, 
and  the  influence  of  the  feudal  relation  much  dimin- 
ished, the  ancient  forms  and  institutions,  introduced 
while  the  emperors  governed  Germany  with  authority 
not  inferior  to  that  which  the  other  monarchs  of  Europe 
possessed,  still  remained.  Thus  an  opposition  was 
established  between  the  genius  of  the  government  and 
the  forms  of  administration  in  the  German  empire. 
The  former  considered  the  emperor  only  as  the  head 
of  a  confederacy,  the  members  of  which,  by  their  vol- 
untary choice,  have  raised  him  to  that  dignity;  the 


192  A   VIEW  OF  THE 

latter  seemed  to  imply  that  he  is  really  invested  with 
'sovereign  power.  By  this  circumstance  such  principles 
of  hostility  and  discord  were  interwoven  into  the  frame 
of  the  Germanic  body  as  affected  each  of  its  members, 
rendering  their  interior  union  incomplete  and  their 
external  efforts  feeble  and  irregular.  The  pernicious 
influence  of  this  defect,  inherent  in  the  constitution  of 
the  empire,  is  so  considerable  that  without  attending 
to  it  we  cannot  fully  comprehend  many  transactions  in 
the  reign  of  Charles  V.  or  form  just  ideas  concerning 
the  genius  of  the  German  government. 

The  'emperors  of  Germany  at  the  beginning  of  the 
sixteenth  century  were  distinguished  by  the  most 
pompous  titles,  and  by  such  ensigns  of  dignity  as 
intimated  their  authority  to  be  superior  to  that  of  all 
other  monarchs.  The  greatest  princes  of  the  empire 
attended  and  served  them,  on  some  occasions,  as  the 
officers  of  their  household.  They  exercised  preroga- 
tives which  no  other  sovereign  ever  claimed.  They 
retained  pretensions  to  all  the  extensive  powers  which 
their  predecessors  had  enjoyed  in  any  former  age. 
But,  at  the  same  time,  instead  of  possessing  that  ample 
domain  which  had  belonged  to  the  ancient  emperors 
of  Germany  and  which  stretched  from  Basil  to  Co- 
logne, along  both  banks  of  the  Rhine,49  they  were 
stripped  of  all  territorial  property,  and  had  not  a 
single  city,  a  single  castle,  a  single  foot  •  of  land, 
that  belonged  to  them  as  heads  of  the  empire.  As 
their  domain  was  alienated,  their  stated  revenues  were 
reduced  almost  to  nothing;  and  the  extraordinary  aids 
which  on  a  few  occasions  they  obtained  were  granted 

49  Pfeffel,  Abrege,  etc.,  p.  241. 


STATE    OF  EUROPE. 


193 


sparingly  and  paid  with  reluctance.  The  princes  and 
states  of  the  empire,  though  they  seemed  to  recognize 
the  imperial  authority,  were  subjects  only  in  name, 
each  of  them  possessing  a  complete  municipal  jurisdic- 
tion within  the  precincts  of  his  own  territories. 

From  this  ill-compacted  frame  of  government  effects 
that  were  unavoidable  resulted.  The  emperors,  dazzled 
with  the  splendor  of  their  titles  and  the  external  signs 
of  vast  authority,  were  apt  to  imagine  themselves  to  be 
the  real  sovereigns  of  Germany,  and  were  led  to  aim 
continually  at  recovering  the  exercise  of  those  powers 
which  the  forms  of  the  constitution  seemed  to  vest  in 
them,  and  which  their  predecessors,  Charlemagne  and 
the  Othos,  had  actually  enjoyed.  The  princes  and 
states,  aware  of  the  nature  as  well  as  the  extent  of 
these  pretensions,  were  perpetually  on  their  guard  in 
order  to  watch  all  the  motions  of  the  imperial  court 
and  to  circumscribe  its  power  within  limits  still  more 
narrow.  The  emperors,  in  support  of  their  claims, 
appealed  to  ancient  forms  and  institutions  which  the 
states  held  to  be  obsolete.  The  states  founded  their 
rights  on  recent  practice  and  modern  privileges,  which 
the  emperors  considered  as  usurpations. 

This  jealousy  of  the  imperial  authority,  together  with 
the  opposition  between  it  and  the  rights  of  the  states, 
increased  considerably  from  the  time  that  the  emperors 
were  elected,  not  by  the  collective  body  of  German 
nobles,  but  by  a  few  princes  of  chief  dignity.  During 
a  long  period  all  the  members  of  the  Germanic  body 
had  a  right  to  assemble  and  to  make  choice  of  the 
person  whom  they  appointed  to  be  their  head.  But 
amidst  the  violence  and  anarchy  which  prevailed  for 
Charles. — VOL.  I. — I  17 


194 


A    VIEW  OF  THE 


several  centuries  in  the  empire,  seven  princes  who 
possessed  the  most  extensive  territories,  and  who  had 
obtained  an  hereditary  title  to  the  great  offices  of  the 
state,  acquired  the  exclusive  privilege  of  nominating 
the  emperor.  This  right  was  confirmed  to  them  by 
the  Golden  Bull ;  the  mode  of  exercising  it  was  ascer- 
tained, and  they  were  dignified  with  the  appellation 
of  electors.  The  nobility  and  free  cities,  being  thus 
stripped  of  a  privilege  which  they  had  once  enjoyed, 
were  less  connected  with  a  prince  towards  whose  eleva- 
tion they  had  not  contributed  by  their  suffrages,  and 
came  to  be  more  apprehensive  of  his  authority.  The 
electors,  by  their  extensive  power  and  the  distinguish- 
ing privileges  which  they  possessed,  became  formidable 
to  the  emperors  with  whom  they  were  placed  almost  on 
a  level  in  several  acts  of  jurisdiction.  Thus  the  intro- 
duction of  the  electoral  college  into  the  empire,  and 
the  authority  which  it  acquired,  instead  of  diminishing, 
contributed  to  strengthen,  the  principles  of  hostility 
and  discord  in  the  Germanic  constitution. 

These  were  farther  augmented  by  the  various  and 
repugnant  forms  of  civil  policy  in  the  several  states 
which  composed  the  Germanic  body.  It  is  no  easy 
matter  to  render  the  union  of  independent  states 
perfect  and  entire,  even  when  the  genius  and  forms  of 
their  respective  governments  happen  to  be  altogether 
similar.  But  in  the  German  empire,  which  was  a 
confederacy  of  princes,  of  ecclesiastics,  and  of  free 
cities,  it  was  impossible  that  they  could  incorporate 
thoroughly.  The  free  cities  were  small  republics,  in 
which  the  maxims  and  spirit  peculiar  to  that  species 
of  government  prevailed.  The  princes  and  nobles,  to 


STATE    OF  EUROPE. 


195 


whom  supreme  jurisdiction  belonged,  possessed  a  sort 
of  monarchical  power  within  their  own  territories,  and 
the  forms  of  their  interior  administration  nearly  resem- 
bled those  of  the  great  feudal  kingdoms.  The  interests, 
the  ideas,  the  objects  of  states  so  differently  constituted 
cannot  be  the  same.  Nor  could  their  common  delibera- 
tions be  carried  on  with  the  same  spirit,  while  the  love 
of  liberty  and  attention  to  commerce  were  the  reigning 
principles  in  the  cities,  while  the  desire  of  power  and 
ardor  for  military  glory  were  the  governing  passions  of 
the  princes  and  nobility. 

The  secular  and  ecclesiastical  members  of  the  empire 
were  as  little  fitted  for  union  as  the  free  cities  and  the 
nobility.  Considerable  territories  had  been  granted  to 
several  of  the  German  bishoprics  and  abbeys,  and  some 
of  the  highest  offices  in  the  empire,  having  been  annexed 
to  them  inalienably,  were  held  by  the  ecclesiastics  raised 
to  these  dignities.  The  younger  sons  of  noblemen  of 
the  second  order,  who  had  devoted  themselves  to  the 
Church,  were  commonly  promoted  to  these  stations  of 
eminence  and  power ;  and  it  was  no  small  mortification 
to  the  princes  and  great  nobility  to  see  persons  raised 
from  an  inferior  rank  to  the  same  level  with  them- 
selves, or  even  exalted  to  superior  dignity.  The  educa- 
tion of  these  churchmen,  the  genius  of  their  profession, 
and  their  connection  with  the  court  of  Rome,  ren- 
dered their  character  as  well  as  their  interest  different 
from  those  of  the  other  members  of  the  Germanic 
body  with  whom  they  were  called  to  act  in  concert. 
Thus  another  source  of  jealousy  and  variance  was 
opened  which  ought  not  to  be  overlooked  when  we  are 
searching  into  the  nature  of  the  German  constitution. 


196  A   VIEW  OF  THE 

To  all  these  causes  of  dissension  may  be  added  one 
more,  arising  from  the  unequal  distribution  of  power 
and  wealth  among  the  states  of  the  empire.  The 
electors,  and  other  nobles  of  the  highest  rank,  not  only 
possessed  sovereign  jurisdiction,  but  governed  such 
extensive,  populous,  and  rich  countries  as  rendered 
them  great  princes.  Many  of  the  other  members, 
though  they  enjoyed  all  the  rights  of  sovereignty, 
ruled  over  such  petty  domains  that  their  real  power 
bore  no  proportion  to  this  high  prerogative.  A  well- 
compacted  and  vigorous  confederacy  could  not  be 
formed  of  such  dissimilar  states.  The  weaker  were 
jealous,  timid,  and  unable  either  to  assert  or  to  defend 
their  just  privileges.  The  more  powerful  were  apt  to 
assume  and  to  become  oppressive.  The  electors  and 
emperors,  by  turns,  endeavored  to  extend  their  own 
authority  by  encroaching  on  those  feeble  members  of 
the  Germanic  body,  who  sometimes  defended  their 
rights  with  much  spirit,  but  more  frequently,  being 
overawed  or  corrupted,  they  tamely  surrendered  their 
privileges,  or  meanly  favored  the  designs  formed  against 
them.50 

After  contemplating  all  these  principles  of  disunion 
and  opposition  in  the  constitution  of  the  German  em- 
pire, it  will  be  easy  to  account  for  the  want  of  concord 
and  uniformity  conspicuous  in  its  councils  and  proceed- 
ings. That  slow,  dilatory,  distrustful,  and  irresolute 
spirit  which  characterizes  all  its  deliberations  will  ap- 
pear natural  in  a  body  the  junction  of  whose  members 
was  so  incomplete,  the  different  parts  of  which  were 
held  together  by  such  feeble  ties  and  set  at  variance  by 

so  Note  XLII. 


STATE    OF  EUROPE. 


197 


such  powerful  motives.  But  the  empire  of  Germany, 
nevertheless,  comprehended  countries  of  such  great 
extent,  and  was  inhabited  by  such  a  martial  and 
hardy  race  of  men,  that  when  the  abilities  of  an  em- 
peror, or  zeal  for  any  common  cause,  could  rouse  this 
unwieldy  body  to  put  forth  its  strength,  it  acted  with 
almost  irresistible  force.  In  the  following  history  we 
shall  find  that  as  the  measures  on  which  Charles  V.  was 
most  intent  were  often  thwarted  or  rendered  abortive 
by  the  spirit  of  jealousy  and  division  peculiar  to  the 
Germanic  constitution,  so  it  was  by  the  influence  which 
he  acquired  over  the  princes  of  the  empire,  and  by 
engaging  them  to  co-operate  with  him,  that  he  was 
enabled  to  make  some  of  the  greatest  efforts  which 
distinguish  his  reign. 

The  Turkish  history  is  so  blended,  during  the  reign 
of  Charles  V. ,  with  that  of  the  great  nations  in  Europe, 
and  the  Ottoman  Porte  interposed  so  often,  and  with 
such  decisive  influence,  in  the  wars  and  negotiations  of 
the  Christian  princes,  that  some  previous  account  of 
the  state  of  government  in  that  great  empire  is  no  less 
necessary  for  the  information  of  my  readers  than  .those 
views  of  the  constitution  of  other  kingdoms  which  I 
have  already  exhibited  to  them. 

It  has  been  the  fate  of  the  southern  and  more  fertile 
parts  of  Asia,  at  different  periods,  to  be  conquered  by 
that  warlike  and  hardy  race  of  men  who  inhabit  the 
vast  country  known  to  the  ancients  by  the  name  of 
Scythia  and  among  the  moderns  by  that  of  Tartary. 
One  tribe  of  these  people,  called  Turks  or  Turcomans, 
extended  its  conquests,  under  various  leaders,  and 
during  several  centuries,  from  the  shore  of  the  Caspian 
17* 


198  A    VIE  W  OF  THE 

Sea  to  the  Straits  of  the  Dardanelles.  Towards  the 
middle  of  the  fifteenth  century  these  formidable  con- 
querors took  Constantinople  by  storm  and  established 
the  seat  of  their  government  in  that  imperial  city. 
Greece,  Moldavia,  Wallachia,  and  the  other  provinces 
of  the  ancient  kingdoms  of  Thrace  and  Macedonia, 
together  with  part  of  Hungary,  were  subjected  to  their 
power. 

But  though  the  seat  of  the  Turkish  government  was 
fixed  in  Europe,  and  the  sultans  obtained  possession  of 
such  extensive  dominions  in  that  quarter  of  the  globe, 
the  genius  of  their  policy  continued  to  be  purely  Asiatic, 
and  may  be  properly  termed  a  despotism,  in  contradis- 
tinction to  those  monarchical  and  republican  forms  of 
government  which  we  have  been  hitherto  contemplating. 
The  supreme  power  was  vested  in  sultans  of  the  Ottoman 
race,  that  blood  being  deemed  so  sacred  that  no  other 
was  thought  worthy  of  the  throne.  From  this  elevation 
these  sovereigns  could  look  down  and  behold  all  their 
subjects  reduced  to  the  same  level  before  them.  The 
maxims  of  Turkish  policy  do  not  authorize  any  of  those 
institutions  which  in  other  countries  limit  the  exercise 
or  moderate  the  rigor  of  monarchical  power :  they  admit 
neither  of  any  great  court  with  constitutional  and  per- 
manent jurisdiction  to  interpose  both  in  enacting  laws 
and  in  superintending  the  execution  of  them,  nor  of  a 
body  of  hereditary  nobles  whose  sense  of  their  own 
pre-eminence,  whose  consciousness  of  what  is  due  to 
their  rank  and  character,  whose  jealousy  of  their  priv- 
ileges, circumscribe  the  authority  of  the  prince,  and 
serve  not  only  as  a  barrier  against  the  excesses  of  his 
caprice,  but  stand  as  an  intermediate  order  between 


STATE    OF  EUROPE.  199 

him  and  the  people.  Under  the  Turkish  government 
the  political  condition  of  every  subject  is  equal.  To 
be  employed  in  the  service  of  the  sultan  is  the  only 
circumstance  that  confers  distinction.  Even  this  dis- 
tinction is  rather  official  than  personal,  and  so  closely 
annexed  to  the  station  in  which  any  individual  serves 
that  it  is  scarcely  communicated  to  the  persons  of 
those  who  are  placed  in  them.  The  highest  dignity 
in  the  empire  does  not  give  any  rank  or  pre-eminence 
to  the  family  of  him  who  enjoys  it.  As  every  man 
before  he  is  raised  to  any  station  of  authority  must  go 
through  the  preparatory  discipline  of  a  long  and  ser- 
vile obedience,51  the  moment  he  is  deprived  of  power 
he  and  his  posterity  return  to  the  same  condition  with 
other  subjects  and  sink  back  into  obscurity.  It  is  the 
distinguishing  and  odious  characteristic  of  Eastern 
despotism  that  it  annihilates  all  other  ranks  of  men 
in  order  to  exalt  the  monarch ;  that  it  leaves  nothing 
to  the  former,  while  it  gives  every  thing  to  the  latter; 
that  it  endeavors  to  fix  in  the  minds  of  those  who  are 
subject  to  it  the  idea  of  no  relation  between  men  but 
that  of  a  master  and  of  a  slave,  the  former  destined  to 
command  and  to  punish,  the  latter  formed  to  tremble 
and  obey.52 

But,  as  there  are  circumstances  which  frequently 
obstruct  or  defeat  the  salutary  effects  of  the  best- 
regulated  governments,  there  are  others  which  con- 
tribute to  mitigate  the  evils  of  the  most  defective 
forms  of  policy.  There  can,  indeed,  be  no  constitu- 
tional restraints  upon  the  will  of  a  prince  in  a  despotic 

51  State  of  the  Turkish  Empire,  by  Rycaut,  p.  25. 
5»  NoteXLIII. 


200  A    VIEW  OF  THE 

government ;  but  there  may  be  such  as  are  accidental. 
Absolute  as  the  Turkish  sultans  are,  they  feel  themselves 
circumscribed  both  by  religion,  the  principle  on  which 
their  authority  is  founded,33  and  by  the  army,  the  instru- 
ment which  they  must  employ  in  order  to  maintain  it. 
Wherever  religion  interposes,  the  will  of  the  sovereign 
must  submit  to  its  decrees.  When  the  Koran  hath 
prescribed  any  religious  rite,  hath  enjoined  any  moral 
duty,  or  hath  confirmed  by  its  sanction  any  political 
maxim,  the  command  of  the  sultan  cannot  overturn 
that  which  a  higher  authority  hath  established.  The 
chief  restriction,  however,  on  the  will  of  the  sultans  is 
imposed  by  the  military  power.  An  armed  force  must 
surround  the  throne  of  every  despot,  to  maintain  his 
authority  and  to  execute  his  commands.  As  the  Turks 
extended  their  empire  over  nations  which  they  did 
not  exterminate,  but  reduced  to  subjection,  they  found 
it  necessary  to  render  their  military  establishment  nu- 
merous and  formidable.  Amruth,  their  third  sultan, 
in  order  to  form  a  body  of  troops  devoted  to  his 
will,  that  might  serve  as  the  immediate  guards  of  his 
person  and  dignity,  commanded  his  officers  to  seize 
annually,  as  the  imperial  property,  the  fifth  part  of  the 
youth  taken  in  war.  These,  after  being  instructed  in 
the  Mahometan  religion,  inured  to  obedience  by  severe 
discipline,  and  trained  to  warlike  exercises,  were  formed 
into  a  body  distinguished  by  the  name  of  janizaries,  or 
new  soldiers.  Every  sentiment  which  enthusiasm  can 
inspire,  every  mark  of  distinction  that  the  favor  of  the 
prince  could  confer,  were  employed  in  order  to  animate 
this  body  with  martial  ardor  and  with  a  consciousness 

53  Rycaut,  p.  8. 


STATE    OF  EUROPE.  2Oi 

of  its  own  pre-eminence.54  The  janizaries  soon  became 
the  chief  strength  and  pride  of  the  Ottoman  armies, 
and,  by  their  number  as  well  as  reputation,  were  distin- 
guished above  all  the  troops  whose  duty  it  was  to  attend 
on  the  person  of  the  sultan.55  [1362.] 

Thus,  as  the  supreme  power  in  every  society  is  pos- 
sessed by  those  who  have  arms  in  their  hands,  this  for- 
midable body  of  soldiers,  destined  to  be  the  instruments 
of  enlarging  the  sultan's  authority,  acquired  at  the 
same  time  the  means  of  controlling  it.  The  janizaries 
in  Constantinople,  like  the  praetorian  bands  in  ancient 
Rome,  quickly  perceived  all  the  advantages  which  they 
derived  from  being  stationed  in  the  capital,  from  their 
union  under  one  standard,  and  from  being  masters  of 
the  person  of  the  prince.  The  sultans  became  no  less 
sensible  of  their  influence  and  importance.  The  capi- 
ctify,  or  soldiery  of  the  Porte,  was  the  only  power  in 
the  empire  that  a  sultan  or  his  vizier  had  reason  to 
dread.  To  preserve  the  fidelity  and  attachment  of  the 
janizaries  was  the  great  art  of  government  and  the 
principal  object  of  attention  in  the  policy  of  the  Otto- 
man court.  Under  a  monarch  whose  abilities  and 
vigor  of  mind  fit  him  for  command,  they  are  obse- 
quious instruments, — execute  whatever  he  enjoins,  and 
render  his  power  irresistible.  Under  feeble  princes, 
or  such  as  are  unfortunate,  they  become  turbulent  and 
mutinous, — assume  the  tone  of  masters,  degrade  and 
exalt  sultans  at  pleasure,  and  teach  those  to  tremble, 
on  whose  nod,  at  other  times,  life  and  death  depend. 

From  Mahomet  II.,  who   took   Constantinople,  to 

54  Prince  Cantemir's  History  of  the  Othman  Empire,  p.  87. 
ss  Note  XLIV. 
I* 


202  A   VIEW  OF  THE 

i 

Solyman  the  Magnificent,  who  began  his  reign  a  few 
months  after  Charles  V.  was  placed  on  the  imperial 
throne  of  Germany,  a  succession  of  illustrious  princes 
ruled  over  the  Turkish  empire.  By  their  great  abili- 
ties they  kept  their  subjects  of  every  order,  military 
as  well  as  civil,  submissive  to  government,  and  had 
the  absolute  command  of  whatever  force  their  vast 
empire  was  able  to  exert.  Solyman,  in  particular, 
who  is  known  to  the  Christians  chiefly  as  a  con- 
queror, but  is  celebrated  in  the  Turkish  annals  as 
the  great  lawgiver  who  established  order  and  police 
in  their  empire,  governed  during  his  long  reign  with 
no  less  authority  than  wisdom.  He  divided  his  do- 
minions into  several  districts ;  he  appointed  the  num- 
ber of  soldiers  which  each  should  furnish ;  he  appro- 
priated a  certain  proportion  of  the  land  in  every 
province  for  their  maintenance ;  he  regulated  with  a 
minute  accuracy  every  thing  relative  to  their  discipline, 
their  arms,  and  the  nature  of  their  service.  He  put 
the  finances  of  the  empire  into  an  orderly  train  of 
administration  ;  and,  though  the  taxes  in  the  Turkish 
dominions,  as  well  as  in  the  other  despotic  monarchies 
of  the  East,  are  far  from  being  considerable,  he  sup- 
plied that  defect  by  an  attentive  and  severe  economy. 
Nor  was  it  only  under  such  sultans  as  Solyman, 
whose  talents  were  no  less  adapted  to  preserve  internal 
order  than  to  conduct  the  operations  of  war,  that  the 
Turkish  empire  engaged  with  advantage  in  its  contests 
with  the  Christian  states.  The  long  succession  of 
able  princes  which  I  have  mentioned  had  given  such 
vigor  and  firmness  to  the  Ottoman  government  that  it 
seems  to  have  attained  during  the  sixteenth  century 


STATE    OF  EUROPE. 


203 


the  highest  degree  of  perfection  of  which  its  constitu- 
tion was  capable.  Whereas  the  great  monarchies  in 
Christendom  were  still  far  from  that  state  which  could 
enable  them  to  act  with  a  full  exertion  of  their  force. 
Besides  this,  the  Turkish  troops  in  that  age  possessed 
every  advantage  which  arises  from  superiority  in  mili- 
tary discipline.  At  the  time  when  Solyman  began  his 
reign,  the  janizaries  had  been  embodied  near  a  cen- 
tury and  a  half,  and  during  that  long  period  the 
severity  of  their  military  discipline  had  in  no  degree 
relaxed.  The  other  soldiers,  drawn  from  the  provinces 
of  the  empire,  had  been  kept  almost  continually  under 
arms,  in  the  various  wars  which  the  sultans  had  carried 
on,  with  hardly  an  interval  of  peace.  Against  troops 
thus  trained  and  accustomed  to  service  the  forces  of 
the  Christian  powers  took  the  field  with  great  disad- 
vantage. The  most  intelligent  as  well  as  impartial 
authors  of  the  sixteenth  century  acknowledge  and 
lament  the  superior  attainments  of  the  Turks  in  the 
military  art.56  The  success  which  almost  uniformly 
attended  their  arms,  in  all  their  wars,  demonstrates  the 
justness  of  this  observation.  The  Christian  armies 
did  not  acquire  that  superiority  over  the  Turks  which 
they  now  possess  until  the  long  establishment  of  stand- 
ing forces  had  improved  military  discipline  among  the 
former,  and  until  various  causes  and  events,  which  it 
is  not  in  my  province  to  explain,  had  corrupted  or 
abolished  their  ancient  warlike  institutions  among  the 

latter. 

56  Note  XLV. 


PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


NOTE  I. — Sect.  I.  p.  5. 

THE  consternation  of  the  Britons,  when  invaded  by  the  Picts 
and  Caledonians,  after  the  Roman  legions  were  called  out  of  the 
island,  may  give  some  idea  of  the  degree  of  debasement  to  which 
the  human  mind  was  reduced  by  long  servitude  under  the  Romans. 
In  their  supplicatory  letter  to  Aetius,  which  they  call  the  Groans 
of  Britain,  "  We  know  not  (say  they)  which  way  to  turn  us.  The 
barbarians  drive  us  to  the  sea,  and  the  sea  forces  us  back  on  the 
barbarians ;  between  which  we  have  only  the  choice  of  two  deaths, 
either  to  be  swallowed  up  by  the  waves,  or  to  be  slain  by  the  sword." 
(Histor.  Gildae,  ap.  Gale,  Hist.  Britan.  Script.,  p.  6.)  One  can 
hardly  believe  this  dastardly  race  to  be  descendants  of  that  gallant 
people  who  repulsed  Caesar  and  defended  their  liberty  so  long 
against  the  Roman  arms. 

NOTE  II. — Sect.  I.  p.  6. 

The  barbarous  nations  were  not  only  illiterate,  but  regarded 
literature  with  contempt.  They  found  the  inhabitants  of  all  the 
provinces  of  the  empire  sunk  in  effeminacy  and  averse  to  war. 
Such  a^ character  was  the  object  of  scorn  to  a  high-spirited  and 
gallant  race  of  men.  "When  we  would  brand  an  enemy,"  says 
Luitprandus,  "  with  the  most  disgraceful  and  contumelious  appella- 
tion, we  call  him  a  Roman ;  hoc  solo,  id  est  Romani  nomine, 
quicquid  ignobilitatis,  quicquid  timiditatis,  quicquid  avaritiae,  quic- 
quid  luxurise,  quicquid  mendacii,  immo  quicquid  vitiorum  est 
comprehendentes."  (Luitprandi  Legatio,  apud  Murat.,  Scriptor. 
Italic.,  vol.  ii.  pars  i.  p.  481.)  This  degeneracy  of  manners,  illite- 
Charles. — VOL.  I.  18  205 


206  PROOFS  AND   ILLUSTRATIONS. 

rate  barbarians  imputed  to  their  love  of  learning.  Even  after  they 
settled  in  the  countries  which  they  had  conquered,  they  would  not 
permit  their  children  to  be  instructed  in  any  science.  "  For  (said 
they)  instruction  in  the  sciences  tends  to  corrupt,  enervate,  and 
depress  the  mind ;  and  he  who  has  been  accustomed  to  tremble 
under  the  rod  of  a  pedagogue  will  never  look  on  a  sword  or  a 
spear  with  an  undaunted  eye."  (Procop.,  de  Bello  Gothor.,  lib.  i. 
p.  4,  ap.  Script.  Byz.,  edit.  Yenet.,  vol.  i.)  A  considerable  num- 
ber of  years  elapsed  before  nations  so  rude  and  so  unwilling  to 
learn  could  produce  historians  capable  of  recording  their  transac- 
tions or  of  describing  their  manners  and  institutions.  By  that  time 
the  memory  of  their  ancient  condition  was  in  a  great  measure  lost, 
and  fewrfnonuments  remained  to  guide  their  first  writers  to  any 
certain  knowledge  of  it.  If  one  expects  to  receive  any  satisfac- 
tory account  of  the  manners  and  laws  of  the  Goths,  Lombards,  or 
Franks  during  their  residence  in  those  countries  where  they  were 
originally  seated,  from  Jornandes,  Paulus  Warnefridus,  or  Gregory 
of  Tours,  the  earliest  and  most  authentic  historians  of  these  people, 
he  will  be  miserably  disappointed.  Whatever  imperfect  knowledge 
has  been  conveyed  to  us  of  their  ancient  state  we  owe- not  to  their 
own  writers,  but  to  the  Greek  and  Roman  historians. 

NOTE  III.— Sect.  I.  p.  7. 

A  circumstance  related  by  Priscus,  in  his  history  of  the  embassy 
to  Attila,  king  of  the  Huns,  gives  a  striking  view  of  the  enthusiastic 
passion  for  war  which  prevailed  among  the  barbarous  nations. 
When  the  entertainment  to  which  that  fierce  conqueror  admitted 
the  Roman  ambassadors  was  ended,  two  Scythians  advanced 
towards  Attila  and  recited  a  poem  in  which  they  celebrated  his 
victories  and  military  virtues.  All  the  Huns  fixed  their  eyes  with 
attention  on  the  bards.  Some  seemed  to  be  delighted  with  the 
verses ;  others,  remembering  their  own  battles  and  exploits,  exulted 
with  joy ;  while  such  as  were  become  feeble  through  age  hurst  out 
into  tears,  bewailing  the  decay  of  their  vigor,  and  the  state  of 
inactivity  in  which  they  were  now  obliged  to  remain.  Excerpta 
ex  Historia  Prisci  Rhetoris,  ap.  Byz.  Hist.  Script.,  vol.  i.  p.  45. 


PROOFS  AND   ILLUSTRATIONS.  207 

NOTE   IV.— Sect.  I.  p.  14. 

A  remarkable  confirmation  of  both  parts  of  this  reasoning 
occurs  in  the  history  of  England.  The  Saxons  carried  on  the 
conquest  of  that  country  with  the  same  destructive  spirit  which 
distinguished  the  other  barbarous  nations.  The  ancient  inhabit- 
ants of  Britain  were  either  exterminated,  or  forced  to  take  shelter 
among  the  mountains  of  Wales,  or  reduced  to  servitude.  The 
Saxon  government,  laws,  manners,  and  language  were  of  conse- 
quence introduced  into  Britain,  and  were  so  perfectly  established 
that  all  memory  of  the  institutions  previous  to  their  conquest  of  the 
countiy  was  in  a  great  measure  lost.  The  very  reverse  of  this 
happened  in  a  subsequent  revolution.  A  single  victory  placed 
William  the  Norman  on  the  throne  of  England.  The  Saxon 
inhabitants,  though  oppressed,  were  not  exterminated.  William 
employed  the  utmost  efforts  of  his  power  and  policy  to  make  his 
new  subjects  conform  in  every  thing  to  the  Norman  standard,  but 
without  success.  The  Saxons,  though  vanquished,  were  far  more 
numerous  than  their  conquerors;  when  the  two  races  began  to 
incorporate,  the  Saxon  laws  and  manners  gradually  gained  ground. 
The  Norman  institutions  became  unpopular  and  odious;  many  of 
them  fell  into  disuse ;  and  in  the  English  constitution  and  language 
at  this  day  many  essential  parts  are  manifestly  of  Saxon,  not  of 
Norman  extraction. 

NOTE  V. — Sect.  I.  p.  14. 

Procopius,  the  historian,  declines,  from  a  principle  of  benevo- 
lence, to  give  any  particular  detail  of  the  cruelties  of  the  Goths ; 
"  lest,"  says  he,  "  I  should  transmit  a  monument  and  example  of 
inhumanity  to  succeeding  ages."  (Proc.,  de  Bello  Goth.,  lib.  iii. 
cap.  10,  ap.  Byz.  Script.,  vol.  i.  p.  126.)  But  as  the  change  which 
I  have  pointed  out  as  a  consequence  of  the  settlement  of  the  bar- 
barous nations  in  the  countries  formerly  subject  to  the  Roman 
empire  could  not  have  taken  place  if  the  greater  part  of  the 
ancient  inhabitants  had  not  been  extirpated,  an  event  of  such 
importance  and  influence  merits  a  more  particular  illustration. 
This  will  justify  me  for  exhibiting  some  part  of  that  melancholy 


208  PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

spectacle  over  which  humanity  prompted  Procopius  to  draw  a 
veil.  I  shall  not,  however,  disgust  my  readers  by  a  minute  narra- 
tion, but  rest  satisfied  with  collecting  some  instances  of  the  devasta- 
tions made  by  two  of  the  many  nations  which  settled  in  the  empire. 
The  Vandals  were  the  first  of  the  barbarians  who  invaded  Spain. 
It  was  one  of  the  richest  and  most  populous  of  the  Roman  prov- 
inces :  the  inhabitants  had  been  distinguished  for  courage,  and 
had  defended  their  liberty  against  the  arms  of  Rome  with  greater 
obstinacy  and  during  a  longer  course  of  years  than  any  nation  in 
Europe.  But  so  entirely  were  they  enervated  by  their  subjection 
to  the  Romans  that  the  Vandals,  who  entered  the  kingdom  A.D. 
409,  completed  the  conquest  of  it  with  such  rapidity  that  in  the 
year  41 1  these  barbarians  divided  it  among  them  by  casting  lots. 
The  desolation  occasioned  by  their  invasion  is  thus  described  by 
Idatius,  an  eye-witness:  "The  barbarians  wasted  every  thing 
with  hostile  cruelty.  The  pestilence  was  no  less  destructive.  A 
dreadful  famine  raged  to  such  a  degree  that  the  living  were  con- 
strained to  feed  on  the  dead  bodies  of  their  fellow-citizens ;  and 
all  these  terrible  plagues  desolated  at  once  the  unhappy  kingdoms." 
(Idatii  Chron.,  ap.  Biblioth.  Patrum,  vol.  vii.  p.  1233,  edit.  Lugd., 
1677.)  The  Goths  having  attacked  the  Vandals  in  their  new  settle- 
ments, a  fierce  war  ensued ;  the  country  was  plundered  by  both 
parties;  the  cities  which  had  escaped  from  destruction  in  the  first 
invasion  of  the  Vandals  were  now  laid  in  ashes,  and  the  inhabit- 
ants exposed  to  suffer  every  thing  that  the  wanton  cruelty  of 
barbarians  could  inflict.  Idatius  describes  these  scenes  of  inhu- 
manity, ibid.,  p.  1235,  b.  1236,  c.  f.  A  similar  account  of  their 
devastations  is  given  by  Isidorus  Hispalensis  and  other  contempo- 
rary writers.  (Isid.,  Chron.,  ap.  Grot.,  Hist.  Goth.,  732.)  From 
Spain  the  Vandals  passed  over  into  Africa,  A.D.  428.  Africa  was, 
next  to  Egypt,  the  most  fertile  of  the  Roman  provinces.  It  was 
one  of  the  granaries  of  the  empire,  and  is  called  by  an  ancient 
writer  the  soul  of  the  commonwealth.  Though  the  army  with 
which  the  Vandals  invaded  it  did  not  exceed  thirty  thousand 
fighting-men,  they  became  absolute  masters  of  the  province  in  less 
than  two  years.  A  contemporary  author  gives  a  dreadful  account 
of  the  havoc  which  they  made :  "  They  found  a  province  well 


PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


209 


cultivated,  and  enjoying  plenty,  the  beauty  of  the  whole  earth. 
They  carried  their  destructive  arms  into  every  corner  of  it;  they 
dispeopled  it  by  their  devastations,  exterminating  every  thing  with 
fire  and  sword.  They  did  not  even  spare  the  vines  and  fruit-trees, 
that  those  to  whom  caves  and  inaccessible  mountains  had  afforded 
a  retreat  might  find  no  nourishment  of  any  kind.  Their  hostile 
rage  could  not  be  satiated,  and  there  was  no  place  exempted  from 
the  effects  of  it.  They  tortured  their  prisoners  with  the  most 
exquisite  cruelty,  that  they  might  force  from  them  a  discovery  of 
their  hidden  treasures.  The  more  they  discovered,  the  more  they 
expected,  and  the  more  implacable  they  became.  Neither  the 
infirmities  of  age  nor  of  sex,  neither  the  dignity  of  nobility  nor 
the  sanctity  of  the  sacerdotal  office,  could  mitigate  their  fury ;  but 
the  more  illustrious  their  prisoners  were,  the  more  barbarously 
they  insulted  them.  The  public  buildings  which  resisted  the 
violence  of  the  flames  they  levelled  with  the  ground.  They  left 
many  cities  without  an  inhabitant.  When  they  approached  any 
fortified  place  which  their  undisciplined  army  could  not  reduce, 
they  gathered  together  a  multitude  of  prisoners,  and,  putting  them 
to  the  sword,  left  their  bodies  unburied,  that  the  stench  of  the 
carcasses  might  oblige  the  garrison  to  abandon  it."  (Victor  Viten- 
sis  de  Persecutione  Africana,  ap.  Bibl.  Patrum,  vol.  viii.  p.  666.) 
St.  Augustin,  an  African,  who  survived  the  conquest  of  his  country 
by  the  Vandals  some  years,  gives  a  similar  description  of  their 
cruelties.  (Opera,  vol.  x.  p.  372,  edit.  1616.)  About  a  hundred 
years  after  the  settlement  of  the  Vandals  in  Africa,  Belisarius 
attacked  and  dispossessed  them.  Procopius,  a  contemporary  his- 
torian, describes  the  devastation  which  that  war  occasioned. 
"Africa,"  says  he,  "was  so  entirely  dispeopled  that  one  might 
travel  several  days  in  it  without  meeting  one  man ;  and  it  is  no 
exaggeration  to  say  that  in  the  course  of  the  war  five  millions  of 
persons  perished."  (Proc.,  Hist.  Arcana,  cap.  18,  ap.  Byz.  Script., 
vol.  i.  p.  315.)  I  have  dwelt  longer  upon  the  calamities  of  this 
province,  because  they  are  described  not  only  by  contemporary 
authors,  but  by  eye-witnesses.  The  present  state  of  Africa  con- 
firms their  testimony.  Many  of  the  most  flourishing  and  populous 
cities  with  which  it  was  filled  were  so  entirely  ruined  that  no  ves- 
18* 


210  PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

tiges  remain  to  point  out  where  they  were  situated.  That  fertile 
territory,  which  sustained  the  Roman  empire,  still  lies  in  a  great 
measure  uncultivated;  and  that  province,  which  Victor,  in  his 
barbarous  Latin,  called  speciositas  totius  terra  florentis,  is  now  the 
retreat  of  pirates  and  banditti. 

While  the  Vandals  laid  waste  a  great  part  of  the  empire,  the 
Huns  desolated  the  remainder.  Of  all  the  barbarous  tribes  they 
were  the  fiercest  and  most  formidable.  Ammianus  Marcellinus, 
a  contemporary  author,  and  one  of  the  best  of  the  later  historians, 
gives  an  account  of  their  policy  and  manners,  which  nearly 
resemble  those  of  the  Scythians  described  by  the  ancients,  and 
of  the  Tartars  known  to  the  moderns.  Some  parts  of  their  char- 
acter, apd  several  of  their  customs,  are  not  unlike  those  of  the 
savages  in  North  America.  Their  passion  for  war  was  extreme. 
"As  in  polished  societies  (says  Ammianus)  ease  and  tranquillity 
are  courted,  they  delight  in  war  and  dangers.  He  who  falls  in 
battle  is  reckoned  happy.  They  who  die  of  old  age  or  of  disease 
are  deemed  infamous.  They  boast  with  the  utmost  exultation  of 
the  number  of  enemies  whom  they  have  slain,  and,  as  the  most 
glorious  of  all  ornaments,  they  fasten  the  scalps  of  those  who  have 
fallen  by  their  hands  to  the  trappings  of  their  horses."  ( Ammian. 
Marc.,  lib.  xxxi.  p.  477,  edit.  Gronov.,  Lugd.,  1693.)  Their 
incursions  into  the  empire  began  in  the  fourth  century ;  and  the 
Romans,  though  no  strangers,  by  that  time,  to  the  effects  of  bar- 
barous rage,  were  astonished  at  the  cruelty  of  their  devastations. 
Thrace,  Pannonia,  and  Illyricum  were  the  countries  which  they 
first  laid  desolate.  As  they  had  at  first  no  intention  of  settling  in 
Europe,  they  made  only  inroads  of  short  continuance  into  the 
empire ;  but  these  were  frequent ;  and  Procopius  computes  that 
in  each  of  these,  at  a  medium,  two  hundred  thousand  persons 
perished,  or  were  carried  off  as  slaves.  (Procop.,  Hist.  Arcan., 
ap.  Byz.  Script.,  vol.  i.  p.  316.)  Thrace,  the  best  cultivated  province 
in  that  quarter  of  the  empire,  was  converted  into  a  desert;  and 
when  Priscus  accompanied  the  ambassadors  sent  to  Attila  there 
were  no  inhabitants  in  some  of  the  cities,  but  a  few  miserable 
people  who  had  taken  shelter  among  the  ruins  of  the  churches ; 
and  the  fields  were  covered  with  the  bones  of  those  who  had 


PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS.  2II 

fallen  by  the  sword.  (Priscus,  ap.  Byz.  Script.,  vol.  i.  p.  34.) 
Attila  became  king  of  the  Huns,  A.D.  434.  He  is  one  of  the 
greatest  and  most  enterprising  conquerors  mentioned  in  history. 
He  extended  his  empire  over  all  the  vast  countries  comprehended 
under  the  general  names  of  Scythia  and  Germany  in  the  ancient 
division  of  the  world.  While  he  was  carrying  on  his  wars  against 
the  barbarous  nations,  he  kept  the  Roman  empire  under  perpetual 
apprehensions,  and  extorted  enormous  subsidies  from  the  timid 
and  effeminate  monarchs  who  governed  it.  In  the  year  451  he 
entered  Gaul,  at  the  head  of  an  army  composed  of  all  the  various 
nations  which  he  had  subdued.  It  was  more  numerous  than  any 
with  which  the  barbarians  had  hitherto  invaded  the  empire.  The 
devastations  which  he  committed  were  horrible.  Not  only  the 
open  country,  but  the  most  flourishing  cities,  were  desolated.  The 
extent  and  cruelty  of  his  devastations  are  described  by  Salvianus 
de  Gubernat.  Dei,  edit.  Baluz.,  Par.,  1669,  p.  139,  etc.,  and  by 
Idatius,  ubi  supra,  p.  1235.  Aetius  put  a  stop  to  his  progress  in 
that  country  by  the  famous  battle  of  Chalons,  in  which  (if  we  may 
believe  the  historians  of  that  age)  three  hundred  thousand  persons 
perished.  (Idat.,  ibid.;  Jornandes  de  Rebus  Geticis,  ap.  Grot., 
Hist.  Gothor.,  p.  671,  Amst.,  1665.)  But  the  next  year  he  re- 
solved to  attack  the  centre  of  the  empire,  and,  marching  into 
Italy,  wasted  it  with  rage  inflamed  by  the  sense  of  his  late  dis- 
grace. What  Italy  suffered  by  the  Huns  exceeded  all  the  calami- 
ties which  the  preceding  incursions  of  the  barbarians  had  brought 
upon  it.  Conringius  has  collected  several  passages  from  the  an- 
cient historians  which  prove  that  the  devastations  committed  by 
the  Vandals  and  Huns  in  the  countries  situated  on  the  banks  of 
the  Rhine  were  no  less  cruel  and  fatal  to  the  human  race.  (Ex- 
ercitatio  de  Urbibus  Germanise,  Opera,  vol.  i.  p.  488.)  It  is  end- 
less, it  is  shocking,  to  follow  these  destroyers  of  mankind  through 
so  many  scenes  of  horror,  and  to  contemplate  the  havoc  which 
they  made  of  the  human  species. 

But  the  state  in  which  Italy  appears  to  have  been  during  sev- 
eral ages  after  the  barbarous  nations  settled  in  it  is  the  most  de- 
cisive proof  of  the  cruelty  as  well  as  extent  of  their  devastations. 
Whenever  any  country  is  thinly  inhabited,  trees  and  shrubs  spring 


212  PROOFS  AND   ILLUSTRATIONS. 

up  in  the  uncultivated  fields,  and,  spreading  by  degrees,  form 
large  forests ;  by  the  overflowing  of  rivers  and  the  stagnating  of 
waters,  other  parts  of  it  are  converted  into  lakes  and  marshes. 
Ancient  Italy,  which  the  Romans  rendered  the  seat  of  elegance 
and  luxury,  was  cultivated  to  the  highest  pitch.  But  so  effectually 
did  the  devastations  of  the  barbarians  destroy  all  the  effects  of 
Roman  industry  and  cultivation  that  in  the  eighth  century  a  con- 
siderable part  of  Italy  appears  to  have  been  covered  with  forests 
and  marshes  of  great  extent.  Muratori  enters  into  a  minute 
detail  concerning  the  situation  and  limits  of  several  of  these,  and 
proves  by  the  most  authentic  evidence  that  great  tracts  of  terri- 
tory in' all  the  different  provinces  of  Italy  were  either  overrun 
with  wood  or  laid  under  water.  Nor  did  these  occupy  parts  of 
the  country  naturally  barren  or  of  little  value,  but  were  spread 
over  districts  which  ancient  writers  represent  as  extremely  fertile 
and  which  at  present  are  highly  cultivated.  (Muratori,  Antiqui- 
tates  Italicse  Medii  JEv'i,  dissert,  xxi.,  vol.  ii.  pp.  149,  153,  etc.) 
A  strong  proof  of  this  occurs  in  a  description  of  the  city  of 
Modena,  by  an  author  of  the  tenth  century.  (Murat.,  Script. 
Rerum  Italic.,  vol.  iii.  pars  ii.  p.  691.)  The  state  of  desolation 
in  other  countries  of  Europe  seems  to  have  been  the  same.  In 
many  of  the  most  early  charters  now  extant,  the  lands  granted  to 
monasteries  or  to  private  persons  are  distinguished  into  such  as 
are  cultivated  or  inhabited,  and  such  as  were  eremi,  desolate.  In 
many  instances  lands  are  granted  to  persons  because  they  had  taken 
them  from  the  desert,  ab  eremo,  and  had  cultivated  and  planted 
them  with  inhabitants.  This  appears  from  a  charter  of  Charle- 
magne, published  by  Eckhart,  de  Rebus  Francios  Orientalis,  vol.  ii. 
p.  864,  and  from  many  charters  of  his  successors  quoted  by  Du . 
Cange,  voc.  Eremus.  Wherever  a  right  of  property  in  land  can 
be  thus  acquired,  it  is  evident  that  the  country  must  be  extremely 
desolate  and  thinly  peopled.  The  first  settlers  in  America  ob- 
tained possession  of  land  by  such  a  title.  Whoever  was  able  to 
clear  and  to  cultivate  a  field  was  recognized  as  the  proprietor.  His 
industry  merited  such  a  recompense.  The  grants  in  the  charters 
which  I  have  mentioned  flow  from  a  similar  principle,  and  there 
must  have  been  some  resemblance  in  the  state  of  the  countries. 


Pit  OOFS  AND   ILLUSTRATIONS. 


213 


Muratori  adds  that  during  the  eighth  and  ninth  centuries  Italy 
was  greatly  infested  by  wolves  and  other  wild  beasts ;  another 
mark  of  its  being  destitute  of  inhabitants.  (Murat.,  Antiq.,  vol. 
ii.  p.  163.)  Thus  Italy,  the  pride  of  the  ancient  world  for  its 
fertility  and  cultivation,  was  reduced  to  the  state  of  a  country 
newly  peopled  and  lately  rendered  habitable. 

I  am  sensible  not  only  that  some  of  these  descriptions  of  the 
devastations,  which  I  have  quoted,  may  be  exaggerated,  but  that 
the  barbarous  tribes,  in  making  their  settlements,  did  not  proceed 
invariably  in  the  same  manner.  Some  of  them  seemed  to  be 
bent  on  exterminating  the  ancient  inhabitants;  others  were  more 
disposed  to  incorporate  with  them.  It  is  not  my  province  either 
to  inquire  into  the  causes  which  occasioned  this  variety  in  the 
conduct  of  the  conquerors,  or  to  describe  the  state  of  those  coun- 
tries where  the  ancient  inhabitants  were  treated  most  mildly.  The 
facts  which  I  have  produced  are  sufficient  to  justify  the  account 
which  I  have  given  in  the  text,  and  to  prove  that  the  destruction 
of  the  human  species,  occasioned  by  the  hostile  invasions  of  the 
Northern  nations  and  their  subsequent  settlements,  was  much 
greater  than  many  authors  seem  to  imagine. 

NOTE  VI. — Sect.  I.  p.  15. 

I  have  observed,  Note  II.,  that  our  only  certain  information 
concerning  the  ancient  state  of  the  barbarous  nations  must  be  de- 
rived from  the  Greek  and  Roman  writers.  Happily,  an  account 
of  the  institutions  and  customs  of  one  people,  to  which  those  of 
all  the  rest  seem  to  have  been  in  a  great  measure  similar,  has  been 
transmitted  to  us  by  two  authors,  the  most  capable,  perhaps,  that 
ever  wrote,  of  observing  them  with  profound  discernment  and  of 
describing  them  with  propriety  and  force.  The  reader  must  per- 
ceive that  Csesar  and  Tacitus  are  the  authors  whom  I  have  in 
view.  The  former  gives  a  short  account  of  the  ancient  Germans 
in  a  few  chapters  of  the  sixth  book  of  his  Commentaries ;  the 
latter  wrote  a  treatise  expressly  on  that  subject.  These  are  the 
most  precious  and  instructive  monuments  of  antiquity  to  the 
present  inhabitants  of  Europe.  From  them  we  learn, — 


2I4  PROOFS  AND   ILLUSTRATIONS. 

i.  That  the  state  of  society  among  the  ancient  Germans  was 
of  the  rudest  and  most  simple  form.  They  subsisted  entirely  by 
hunting  or  by  pasturage.  (Cses.,  lib.  vi.  c.  21.)  They  neglected 
agriculture,  and  lived  chiefly  on  milk,  cheese,  and  flesh.  (Ibid., 
c.  22.)  Tacitus  agrees  with  him  in  most  of  these  points.  (De 
Morib.  Germ.,  c.  14,  15,  23.)  The  Goths  were  equally  negligent 
of  agriculture.  (Prise.  Rhet.,  ap.  Byz.  Script.,  v.  i.  p.  31,  B.) 
Society  was  in  the  same  state  among  the  Huns,  who  disdained  to 
cultivate  the  earth  or  to  touch  a  plough.  (Amm.  Marcel.,  lib. 
xxxi.  p.  475.)  The  same  manners  took  place  among  the  Alans. 
(Ibid.,  p.  477.)  While  society  remains  in  this  simple  state,  men 
by  uniting  together  scarcely  relinquish  any  portion  of  their  natural 
independence.  Accordingly,  we  are  informed,  2.  That  the  au- 
thority of  civil  government  was  extremely  limited  among  the  Ger- 
mans. During  times  of  peace  they  had  no  common  or  fixed 
magistrate,  but  the  chief  men  of  every  district  dispensed  justice 
and  accommodated  differences.  (Cses.,  ibid.,  c.  23.)  Their  kings 
had  not  absolute  or  unbounded  power ;  their  authority  consisted 
rather  in  the  privilege  of  advising  than  in  the  power  of  command- 
ing. Matters  of  small  consequence  were  determined  by  the  chief 
men;  affairs  of  importance,  by  the  whole  community.  (Tacit., 
c.  7,  II.)  The  Huns,  in  like  manner,  deliberated  in  common 
concerning  every  business  of  moment  to  the  society,  and  were  not 
subject  to  the  rigor  of  regal  authority.  (Amm.  Marcel.,  lib.  xxxi. 
p.  474.)  3.  Every  individual  among  the  ancient  Germans  was 
left  at  liberty  to  choose  whether  he  would  take  part  in  any  military 
enterprise  which  was  proposed ;  there  seems  to  have  been  no  obli- 
gation to  engage  in  it  imposed  on  him  by  public  authority.  "  When 
any  of  the  chief  men  proposes  an  expedition,  such  as  approve  of 
the  cause  and  of  the  leader  rise  up  and  declare  their  intention  of 
following  him ;  after  coming  under  this  engagement,  those  who 
do  not  fulfil  it  are  considered  as  deserters  and  traitors,  and  are 
looked  upon  as  infamous."  (Cses.,  ibid.,  c.  23.)  Tacitus  plainly 
points  at  the  same  custom,  though  in  terms  more  obscure.  (Tacit., 
c.  II.)  4.  As  every  individual  was  so  independent,  and  master  in 
so  great  a  degree  of  his  own  actions,  it  became,  of  consequence, 
the  great  object  of  every  person  among  the  Germans,  who  aimed 


PROOFS  AND   ILLUSTRATIONS.  215 

at  being  a  leader,  to  gain  adherents  and  attach  them  to  his  person 
and  interest.  These  adherents  Caesar  calls  ambacti  and  clientcs, 
i.e.,  retainers  or  clients;  Tacitus,  covrites,  or  companions.  The 
chief  distinction  and  power  of  the  leaders  consisted  in  being 
attended  by  a  numerous  band  of  chosen  youth.  This  was  their 
pride  as  well  as  ornament  during  peace,  and  their  defence  in  war. 
The  leaders  gained  or  preserved  the  favor  of  these  retainers  by 
presents  of  armor  and  of  horses,  or  by  the  profuse  though  in- 
elegant hospitality  with  which  they  entertained  them.  (Tacit.,  c. 
14,  15.)  5.  Another  consequence  of  the  personal  liberty  and  in- 
dependence which  the  Germans  retained,  even  after  they  united 
in  society,  was  their  circumscribing  the  criminal  jurisdiction  of 
the  magistrate  within  very  narrow  limits,  and  their  not  only  claim- 
ing, but  exercising,  almost  all  the  rights  of  private  resentment  and 
revenge.  Their  magistrates  had  not  the  power  either  of  impris- 
oning or  of  inflicting  any  corporal  punishment  on  a  free  man. 
(Tacit.,  c.  7.)  Every  person  was  obliged  to  avenge  the  wrongs 
which  his  parents  or  friends  had  sustained.  Their  enmities  were 
hereditary,  but  not  irreconcilable.  Even  murder  was  compensated 
by  paying  a  certain  number  of  cattle.  (Tacit.,  c.  21.)  A  part  of 
the  fine  went  to  the  king,  or  state,  a  part  to  the  person  who  had 
been  injured,  or  to  his  kindred.  Ibid.,  c.  12. 

Those  particulars  concerning  the  institutions  and  manners  of 
the  Germans,  though  well  known  to  every  person  conversant  in 
ancient  literature,  I  have  thought  proper  to  arrange  in  this  order, 
and  to  lay  before  such  of  my  readers  as  may  be  less  acquainted 
with  these  facts,  both  because  they  confirm  the  account  which  I 
have  given  of  the  state  of  the  barbarous  nations,  and  because  they 
tend  to  illustrate  all  the  observations  I  shall  have  occasion  to  make 
concerning  the  various  changes  in  their  government  and  customs. 
The  laws  and  customs  introduced  by  the  barbarous  nations  into 
their  new  settlements  are  the  best  commentary  on  the  writings  of 
Caesar  and  Tacitus ;  and  their  observations  are  the  best  key  to  a 
perfect  knowledge  of  these  laws  and  customs. 

One  circumstance  with  respect  to  the  testimonies  of  Caesar  and 
Tacitus  concerning  the  Germans  merits  attention.  Cesar  wrote 
his  brief  account  of  their  manners  more  than  a  hundred  years 


21 6  PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

before  Tacitus  composed  his  Treatise  de  Moribus  Germanorum. 
A  hundred  years  make  a  considerable  period  in  the  progress  of 
national  manners,  especially  if  during  that  time  those  people  who 
are  rude  and  unpolished  have  had  much  communication  with 
more  civilized  states.  This  was  the  case  with  the  Germans. 
Their  intercourse  with  the  Romans  began  when  Caesar  crossed 
the  Rhine,  and  increased  greatly  during  the  interval  between  that 
event  and  the  time  when  Tacitus  flourished.  We  may  accordingly 
observe  that  the  manners  of  the  Germans  in  his  time,  which  Caesar 
describes,  were  less  improved  than  those  of  the  same  people  as 
delineated  by  Tacitus.  Besides  this,  it  is  remarkable  that  there 
was  a  considerable  difference  in  the  state  of  society  among  the 
different  tribes  of  Germans.  The  Suiones  were  so  much  improved 
that  they  began  to  be  corrupted.  (Tacit.,  c.  44.)  The  Fenni  were 
so  barbarous  that  it  is  wonderful  how  they  were  able  to  subsist. 
(Ibid.,  c.  46.)  Whoever  undertakes  to  describe  the  manners  of 
the  Germans,  or  to  found  any  political  theory  upon  the  state  of 
society  among  them,  ought  carefully  to  attend  to  both  these 
circumstances. 

Before  I  quit  this  subject,  it  may  not  be  improper  to  observe 
that,  though  successive  alterations  in  their  institutions,  together 
with  the  gradual  progress  of  refinement,  have  made  an  entire 
change  in  the  manners  of  the  various  people  who  conquered  the 
Roman  empire,  there  is  still  one  race  of  men  nearly  in  the  same 
political  situation  with  theirs  when  they  first  settled  in  their  new 
conquests ;  I  mean  the  various  tribes  and  nations  of  savages  in 
North  America.  It  cannot,  then,  be  considered  either  as  a  digres- 
sion, or  as  an  improper  indulgence  of  curiosity,  to  inquire  whether 
this  similarity  in  their  political  state  has  occasioned  any  resemblance 
between  their  character  and  manners.  If  the  likeness  turns  out  to 
be  striking,  it  is  a  stronger  proof  that  a  just  account  has  been  given 
of  the  ancient  inhabitants  of  Europe  than  the  testimony  even  of 
Caesar  or  of  Tacitus. 

i.  The  Americans  subsist  chiefly  by  hunting  and  fishing.  Some 
tribes  neglect  agriculture  entirely.  Among  those  who  cultivate 
some  small  spot  near  their  huts,  that,  together  with  all  works  of 
labor,  is  performed  by  the  women.  (P.  Charlevoix,  Journal  histo- 


PROOFS  AND   ILLUSTRATIONS. 


217 


rique  d'un  Voyage  de  I'Amerique,  410,  Par.,  1744,  p.  334.)  In  such 
a  state  of  society,  the  common  wants  of  men  being  few  and  their 
mutual  dependence  upon  each  other  small,  their  union  is  extremely 
imperfect  and  feeble,  and  they  continue  to  enjoy  their  natural  lib- 
erty almost  unimpaired.  It  is  the  first  idea  of  an  American  that 
every  man  is  born  free  and  independent,  and  that  no  power  on 
earth  hath  any  right  to  diminish  or  circumscribe  his  natural  liberty. 
There  is  hardly  any  appearance  of  subordination,  either  in  civil  or 
domestic  government.  Every  one  does  what  he  pleases.  A  father 
and  mother  live  with  their  children  like  persons  whom  chance  has 
brought  together  and  whom  no  common  bond  unites.  Their  manner 
of  educating  their  children  is  suitable  to  this  principle.  They  never 
chastise  or  punish  them,  even  during  their  infancy.  As  they  ad- 
vance in  years,  they  continue  to  be  entirely  masters  of  their  own 
actions,  and  seem  not  to  be  conscious  of  being  responsible  for  any 
part  of  their  conduct.  (Ibid.,  pp.  272,  273.)  2.  The  power  of 
their  civil  magistrates  is  extremely  limited.  Among  most  of  their 
tribes,  the  sachem,  or  chief,  is  elective.  A  council  of  old  men  is 
chosen  to  assist  him,  without  whose  advice  he  determines  no  affair 
of  importance.  The  sachems  neither  possess  nor  claim  any  great 
degree  of  authority.  They  propose  and  entreat,  rather  than  com- 
mand. The  obedience  of  their  people  is  altogether  voluntary. 
(Ibid.,  pp.  266,  268.)  3.  The  savages  of  America  engage  in  their 
military  enterprises,  not  from  constraint,  but  choice.  When  war  is 
resolved,  a  chief  arises  and  offers  himself  to  be  the  leader.  Such 
as  are  willing  (for  they  compel  no  person)  stand  up  one  after 
another  and  sing  their  war-song.  But  if,  after  this,  any  of  these 
should  refuse  to  follow  the  leader  to  whom  they  have  engaged, 
his  life  would  be  in  danger,  and  he  would  be  considered  as  the 
most  infamous  of  men.  (Ibid.,  pp.  217,  218.)  4.  Such  as  engage 
to  follow  any  leader  expect  to  be  treated  by  him  with  great  atten- 
tion and  respect ;  and  he  is  obliged  to  make  them  presents  of 
considerable  value.  (Ibid.,  p.  218.)  5.  Among  the  Americans, 
the  magistrate  has  scarcely  any  criminal  jurisdiction.  (Ibid.,  p. 
272.)  Upon  receiving  any  injury,  the  person  or  family  offended 
may  inflict  what  punishment  they  please  on  the  person  who  was 
the  author  of  it.  (Ibid.,  p.  274.)  Their  resentment  and  desire 
Charles. — VOL.  I. — K  19 


2i8  PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

of  vengeance  are  excessive  and  implacable.  Time  can  neither 
extinguish  nor  abate  it.  It  is  the  chief  inheritance  parents  leave 
to  their  children;  it  is  transmitted  from  generation  to  generation, 
until  an  occasion  be  found  of  satisfying  it.  (Ibid.,  p.  309.)  Some- 
times, however,  the  offended  party  is  appeased.  A  compensation 
is  paid  for  a  murder  that  has  been  committed.  The  relations  of 
the  deceased  receive  it ;  and  it  consists  most  commonly  of  a  captive 
taken  in  war,  who,  being  substituted  in  place  of  the  person  who 
was  murdered,  assumes  his  name  and  is  adopted  into  his  family. 
(Ibid.,  p.  274.)  The  resemblance  holds  in  many  other  particulars. 
It  is  sufficient  for  my  purpose  to  have  pointed  out  the  similarity  of 
those  great  features  which  distinguish  and  characterize  both  people. 
Boch^rt,  and  other  philologists  of  the  last  century,  who,  with  more 
erudition  than  science,  endeavored  to  trace  the  migrations  of  various 
nations,  and  who  were  apt  upon  the  slightest  appearance  of  resem- 
blance to  find  an  affinity  between  nations  far  removed  from  each 
other,  and  to  conclude  that  they  were  descended  from  the  same 
ancestors,  would  hardly  have  failed,  on  viewing  such  an  amazing 
similarity,  to  pronounce  with  confidence  "  that  the  Germans  and 
Americans  must  be  the  same  people."  But  a  philosopher  will 
satisfy  himself  with  observing  "  that  the  characters  of  nations 
depend  on  the  state  of  society  in  which  they  live,  and  on  the 
political  institutions  established  among  them ;  and  that  the  human 
mind,  whenever  it  is  placed  in  the  same  situation,  will,  in  ages  the 
most  distant  and  in  countries  the  most  remote,  assume  the  same 
form  and  be  distinguished  by  the  same  manners." 

I  have  pushed  the  comparison  between  the  Germans  and 
Americans  no  further  than  was  necessary  for  the  illustration  of 
my  subject.  I  do  not  pretend  that  the  state  of  society  in  the  two 
countries  was  perfectly  similar  in  every  respect.  Many  of  the 
German  tribes  were  more  civilized  than  the  Americans.  Some  of 
them  were  not  unacquainted  with  agriculture ;  almost  all  of  them 
had  flocks  of  tame  cattle,  and  depejided  upon  them  for  the  chief 
part  of  their  subsistence.  Most  of  the  American  tribes  subsist  by 
hunting,  and  are  in  a  ruder  and  more  simple  state  than  the  ancient 
Germans.  The  resemblance,  however,  between  their  condition  is 
greater,  perhaps,  than  any  that  history  affords  an  opportunity  of 


PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


219 


observing  between  any  two  races  of  uncivilized  people ;  and  this 
has  produced  a  surprising  similarity  of  manners. 

NOTE  VII. — Sect.  I.  p.  15. 

The  booty  gained  by  an  army  belonged  to  the  army.  The  king 
himself  had  no  part  of  it  but  what  he  acquired  by  lot.  A  remark- 
able instance  of  this  occurs  in  the  history  of  the  Franks.  The 
army  of  Clovis,  the  founder  of  the  French  monarchy,  having 
plundered  a  church,  carried  off,  among  other  sacred  utensils,  a 
vase  of  extraordinary  size  and  beauty.  The  bishop  sent  deputies 
to  Clovis,  beseeching  him  to  restore  the  vase,  that  it  might  be 
again  employed  in  the  sacred  services  to  which  it  had  been  con- 
secrated. Clovis  desired  the  deputies  to  follow  him  to  Soissons, 
as  the  booty  was  to  be  divided  in  that  place,  and  promised  that  if 
the  lot  should  give  him  the  disposal  of  the  vase  he  would  grant 
what  the  bishop  desired.  When  he  came  to  Soissons,  and  all  the 
booty  was  placed  in  one  great  heap  in  the  middle  of  the  army, 
Clovis  entreated  that  before  making  the  division  they  would  give 
him  that  vase  over  and  above  his  share.  All  appeared  willing  to 
gratify  the  king  and  to  comply  with  his  request,  when  a  fierce  and 
haughty  soldier  lifted  up  his  battle-axe,  and,  striking  the  vase  with 
the  utmost  violence,  cried  out,  with  a  loud  voice,  "You  shall 
receive  nothing  here  but  that  to  which  the  lot  gives  you  a  right." 
Gregor.  Turon.,  Histor.  Francorum,  lib.  ii.  c.  27,  p.  70,  Par.,  1610. 

NOTE  VIII.— Sect.  I.  p.  18. 

The  history  of  the  establishment  and  progress  of  the  feudal 
system  is  an  interesting  object  to  all  the  nations  of  Europe.  In 
some  countries  their  jurisprudence  and  laws  are  still  in  a  great 
measure  feudal.  In  others,  many  forms  and  practices  established 
by  custom,  or  founded  on  statutes,  took  their  rise  from  the  feudal 
law,  and  cannot  be  understood  without  attending  to  the  ideas  pe- 
culiar to  it.  Several  authors  of  the  highest  reputation  for  genius 
and  erudition  have  endeavored  to  illustrate  this  subject,  but  still 
many  parts  of  it  are  obscure.  I  shall  endeavor  to  trace  with 
precision  the  progress  and  variation  of  ideas  concerning  property 


220  PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

in  land  among  the  barbarous  nations,  and  shall  attempt  to  point 
out  the  causes  which  introduced  these  changes,  as  well  as  the 
effects  which  followed  upon  them.  Property  in  land  seems  to 
have  gone  through  four  successive  changes  among  the  people 
who  settled  in  the  various  provinces  of  the  Roman  empire. 

I.  While   the    barbarous   nations   remained   in   their   original 
countries,  their  property  in  land  was  only  temporary,  and  they 
had  no  certain  limits  to  their  possessions.     After  feeding  their 
flocks  in  one  district,  they  removed  with  them,  and  with  their 
wives  and  families,  to  another,  and  abandoned  that  likewise  in  a 
short  time.     They  were  not,  in  consequence  of  this  imperfect 
species  of  property,  brought  under  any  positive  or  formal  obliga- 
tion to  serve  the  community ;  all  their  services  were  purely  vol- 
untary.    Every  individual  was  at  liberty  to  choose  how  far  he 
would  contribute  towards  carrying  on  any  military  enterprise.    If 
he  followed  a  leader  in  any  expedition,  it  was  from  attachment, 
not  from  a  sense  of  obligation.     The  clearest  proof  of  this  has 
been  produced  in  Note  VI.     While  property  continued  in  this 
state,  we  can  discover  nothing  that  bears  any  resemblance  to  a 
feudal  tenure,  or  to  the  subordination  and  military  service  which 
the  feudal  system  introduced. 

II.  Upon  settling  in  the  countries  which  they  had  subdued,  the 
victorious  troops  divided  the  conquered  lands.    Whatever  portion 
of  them  fell  to  a  soldier,  he  seized  as  the  recompense  due  to  his 
valor,  as  a  settlement  acquired  by  his  own  sword.     He  took  pos- 
session of  it  as  a  freeman  in  full  property.     He  enjoyed  it  during 
his  own  life,  and  could  dispose  of  it  at  pleasure,  or  transmit  it  as 
an  inheritance  to  his  children.     Thus  property  in  land  became 
fixed.      It  was  at  the  same  time  allodial ;  i.e.,  the  possessor  had 
the  entire  right  of  property  and  dominion ;  he  held  of  no  sove- 
reign or  superior  lord  to  whom  he  was  bound  to  do  homage  and 
perform  service.     But  as  these  new  proprietors  were  in  some 
danger  (as  has  been  observed  in  the  text)  of  being  disturbed  by 
the  remainder  of  the  ancient  inhabitants,  and  in  still  greater 
danger  of  being  attacked  by  successive  colonies  of  barbarians  as 
fierce  and  rapacious  as  themselves,  they  saw  the  necessity  of  com- 
ing under  obligations  to  defend  the  community  more  explicit  than 


PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS.  22 T 

those  to  which  they  had  been  subject  in  their  original  habitations. 
On  this  account,  immediately  upon  their  fixing  in  their  new  settle- 
ments, every  freeman  became  bound  to  take  arms  in  defence  of  the 
community,  and,  if  he  refused  or  neglected  so  to  do,  was  liable  to 
a  considerable  penalty.  I  do  not  mean  that  any  contract  of  this 
kind  was  formally  conchu'ed  or  mutually  ratified  by  any  legal 
solemnity.  It  was  established  by  tacit  consent,  like  the  other 
compacts  which  hold  society  together.  The  mutual  security  and 
preservation  made  it  the  interest  of  all  to  recognize  its  authority 
and  to  enforce  the  observation  of  it.  We  can  trace  back  this  new 
obligation  on  the  proprietors  of  land  to  a  very  early  period  in  the 
history  of  the  Franks.  Chilperic,  who  began  his  reign  A.D.  562, 
exacted  a  fine,  bannos  jussit  exigi,  from  certain  persons  who  had 
refused  to  accompany  him  in  an  expedition.  (Gregor.  Turon.,  lib. 
v.  c.  26,  p.  211.)  Childebert,  who  began  his  reign  A.D.  576,  pro- 
ceeded in  the  same  manner  against  others  who  had  been  guilty  of 
a  like  crime.  (Ibid.,  lib.  vii.  c.  42,  p.  342.)  Such  a  fine  conld  not 
have  been  exacted  while  property  continued  in  its  first  state  and 
military  service  was  entirely  voluntary.  Charlemagne  ordained 
that  every  freeman  who  possessed  five  mansi,  i.e.,  sixty  acres,  of 
land,  in  property,  should  march  in  person  against  the  enemy. 
(Capitul.,  A.D.  807.)  Louis  le  Debonnaire,  A.D.  815,  granted  lands 
to  certain  Spaniards  who  fled  from  the  Saracens,  and  allowed 
them  to  settle  in  his  territories,  on  condition  that  they  should 
serve  in  the  army  like  other  freemen.  (Capitul.,  vol.  i.  p.  500.) 
By  land  possessed  in  property,  which  is  mentioned  in  the  law  of 
Charlemagne,  we  are  to  understand,  according  to  the  style  of  that 
age,  allodial  land ;  alodes  and  proprietor,  alodum  and  propriitm, 
being  words  perfectly  synonymous.  (Du  Cange,  \oceAlodis.)  The 
clearest  proof  of  the  distinction  between  allodial  and  beneficiary 
possession  is  contained  in  two  charters  published  by  Muratori,  by 
which  it  appears  that  a  person  might  possess  one  part  of  his  estate 
as  allodial,  which  he  could  dispose  of  at  pleasure,  the  other  as 
a  benefitittm,  of  which  he  had  only  the  usufruct,  the  property 
returning  to  the  superior  lord  on  his  demise.  (Antiq.  Ital.  Medii 
JEvi,  vol.  i.  pp.  559,  565.)  The  same  distinction  is  pointed  out  in 
a  capitulare  of  Charlemagne,  A.D.  812,  edit.  Baluz.,  vol.  i.  p.  491. 
19* 


222  PROOFS  AND   ILLUSTRATIONS. 

Count  Everard,  who  married  a  daughter  of  Louis  le  DSbonnaire, 
in  the  curious  testament  by  which  he  disposes  of  his  vast  estate 
among  his  children,  distinguishes  between  what  he  possessed 
proprietate  and  what  he  held  beneficio ;  and  it  appears  that  the 
greater  part  was  allodial,  A.D.  837.  Aub.  Miraei  Opera  Diplo- 
matica,  Lovan.,  1723,  vol.  i.  p.  19. 

In  the  same  manner  liber  homo  is  commonly  opposed  to  vassus 
or  vassallus ;  the  former  denotes  an  allodial  proprietor,  the  latter 
one  who  held  of  a  superior.  These  free  men  were  under  an 
obligation  to  serve  the  state ;  and  this  duty  was  considered  as  so 
sacred  that  freemen  were  prohibited  from  entering  into  holy 
orders  unless  they  had  obtained  the  consent  of  the  sovereign. 
The  reason  given  for  this  in  the  statute  is  remarkable  :  "  For  we 
are  informed  that  some  do  so  not  so  much  out  of  devotion  as  in 
order  to  avoid  that  military  service  which  they  are  bound  to  per- 
form." (Capitul.,  lib.  i.  \  114.)  If  upon  being  summoned  into 
the  field  any  freeman  refused  to  obey,  a  full  hercbannum,  i.e.,  a  fine 
of  sixty  crowns,  was  to  be  exacted  from  him  according  to  the  law 
of  the  Franks.  (Capit.  Car.  Magn.,  ap.  Leg.  Longob.,  lib.  i.  tit. 
14,  \  13,  p.  539.)  This  expression,  according  to  the  law  of  the 
Franks,  seems  to  imply  that  both  the  obligation  to  serve,  and  the 
penalty  on  those  who  disregarded  it,  were  coeval  with  the  laws 
made  by  the  Franks  at  their  first  settlement  in  Gaul.  This  fine 
was  levied  with  such  rigor  "  that  if  any  person  convicted  of  this 
crime  was  insolvent  he  was  reduced  to  servitude,  and  continued 
iu  that  state  until  such  time  as  his  labor  should  amount  to  the 
value  of  the  herebannum."  (Ibid.)  The  emperor  Lotharius 
rendered  the  penalty  still  more  severe;  and  if  any  person  pos- 
sessing such  an  extent  of  property  as  made  it  incumbent  on  him 
to  take  the  field  in  person  refused  to  obey  the  summons,  all  his 
goods  were  declared  to  be  forfeited,  and  he  himself  might  be 
punished  with  banishment.  Murat.,  Script.  Ital.,  vol.  i.  pars  ii. 

P-  153- 

III.  Property  in  land  having  thus  become  fixed,  and  subject  to 
military  service,  another  change  was  introduced,  though  slowly 
and  step  by  step.  We  learn  from  Tacitus  that  the  chief  men 
among  the  Germans  endeavored  to  attach  to  their  persons  and 


PROOFS  AND   ILLUSTRATIONS. 


223 


interests  certain  adherents  whom  he  calls  comites.  These  fought 
under  their  standard  and  followed  them  in  all  their  enterprises. 
The  same  custom  continued  among  them  in  their  new  settlements, 
and  those  attached  or  devoted  followers  were  ca\\e.<\Jideles,  antrus- 
tiones,  homines  in  truste  dominica,  leudes.  Tacitus  informs  us  that 
the  rank  of  a  comes  was  deemed  honorable.  (De  Morib.  Germ., 
c.  13.)  The  composition,  which  is  the  standard  by  which  we  must 
judge  of  the  rank  and  condition  of  persons  in  the  Middle  Ages, 
paid  for  the  murder  of  one  in  truste  dominica,  was  triple  to  that 
paid  for  the  murder  of  a  freeman.  (Leg.  Salicor.,  tit.  44,  \\ 
I  et  2.)  While  the  Germans  remained  in  their  own  country,  they 
courted  the  favor  of  these  comites  by  presents  of  arms  and  horses, 
and  by  hospitality.  (See  Note  VI.)  As  long  as  they  had  no  fixed 
property  in  land,  these  were  the  only  gifts  that  they  could  bestow, 
and  the  only  reward  which  their  followers  desired.  But  upon 
their  settling  in  the  countries  which  they  conquered,  and  when  the 
value  of  property  came  to  be  understood  among  them,  instead  of 
those  slight  presents,  the  kings  and  chieftains  bestowed  a  more 
substantial  recompense  in  land  on  their  adherents.  These  grants 
were  called  beneficia,  because  they  were  gratuitous  donations ; 
and  honores,  because  they  were  regarded  as  marks  of  distinction. 
What  were  the  services  originally  exacted  in  return  for  these 
benefida  cannot  be  determined  with  absolute  precision;  because 
there  are  no  records  so  ancient.  When  allodial  possessions  were 
first  rendered  feudal,  they  were  not  at  once  subjected  to  all  the 
feudal  services.  The  transition  here,  as  in  all  other  changes  of 
importance,  was  gradual.  As  the  great  object  of  a  feudal  vassal 
was  to  obtain  protection,  when  allodial  proprietors  first  consented 
to  become  vassals  of  any  powerful  leader  they  continued  to  retain 
as  much  of  their  ancient  independence  as  was  consistent  with  that 
new  relation.  The  homage  which  they  did  to  their  superior,  of 
whom  they  chose  to  hold,  was  called  homagium  planum,  and 
bound  them  to  nothing  more  than  fidelity,  but  without  any  obliga- 
tion either  of  military  service  or  attendance  in  the  courts  of  their 
superior.  Of  this  homagium  planum  some  traces,  though  obscure, 
may  still  be  discovered.  (Brussel,  torn.  i.  p.  97.)  Among  the 
ancient  writs  published  by  D.  D.  de  Vic  and  Vaisette,  Hist,  de 


224  PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

Langued.,  are  a  great  many  which  they  call  homagia.  They  seem 
to  be  an  intermediate  step  between  the  homagium  planum  men- 
tioned by  Brussel,  and  the  engagement  to  perform  complete  feudal 
service.  The  one  party  promises  protection  and  grants  certain 
castles  or  lands;  the  other  engages  to  defend  the  person  of  the 
grantor,  and  to  assist  him  likewise  in  defending  his  property  as 
often  as  he  shall  be  summoned  to  do  so.  But  these  engagements 
are  accompanied  with  none  of  the  feudal  formalities,  and  no  men- 
tion is  made  of  any  of  the  other  feudal  services.  They  appear 
rather  to  be  a  mutual  contract  between  equals  than  the  engagement 
of  a  vassal  to  perform  services  to  a  superior  lord.  (Preuves  de 
1'Hist.  de  Lang.,  torn.  ii.  p.  173,  et  passim.)  As  soon  as  men 
were  accustomed  to  these,  the  other  feudal  services  were  gradually 
introduced.  M.  de  Montesquieu  considers  these  beneficia  as  fiefs, 
which  originally  subjected  those  who  held  them  to  military  service. 
(L'Esprit  des  Loix,  1.  xxx.  c.  3  et  16.)  M.  1'Abbe  de  Mably  con- 
tends that  such  as  held  these  were  at  first  subjected  to  no  other 
service  than  what  was  incumbent  on  every  freeman.  (Observa- 
tions sur  1'Histoire  de  France,  i.  356.)  But  upon  comparing  their 
proofs  and  reasonings  and  conjectures  it  seems  to  be  evident  that  as 
every  freeman,  in  consequence  of  his  allodial  property,  was  bound 
to  serve  the  community  under  a  severe  penalty,  no  good  reason  can 
be  assigned  for  conferring  these  beneficia  if  they  did  not  subject 
such  as  received  them  to  some  new  obligation.  Why  should  a 
king  have  stripped  himself  of  his  domain,  if  he  had  not  expected 
that  by  parcelling  it  out  he  might  acquire  a  right  to  services  to 
which  he  had  formerly  no  title  ?  We  may  then  warrantably  con- 
clude, "That  as  allodial  property  subjected  those  who  possessed 
it  to  serve  the  community,  so  beneficia  subjected  such  as  held  them 
to  personal  service  and  fidelity  to  him  from  whom  they  received 
these  lands."  These  beneficia  were  granted  originally  only  during 
pleasure.  No  circumstance  relating  to  the  customs  of  the  Middle 
Ages  is  better  ascertained  than  this ;  and  innumerable  proofs  of  it 
might  be  added  to  those  produced  in  L'Esprit  des  Loix,  1.  xxx.  c. 
16,  and  by  Du  Cange,  vocc.  Beneficium  et  Ftudum. 

IV.  But  the  possession  of  benefices  did  not  continue  long  in 
this  state.     A  precarious  tenure  during  pleasure  was  not  sufficient 


PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS.  225 

to  satisfy  such  as  held  lands,  and  by  various  means  they  gradually 
obtained  a  confirmation  of  their  benefices  during  life.  (Feudor., 
lib.  i.  tit.  i.)  Du  Cange  produces  several  quotations  from  ancient 
charters  and  chronicles  in  proof  of  this.  (Gloss.,  voc.  Benefi- 
cium.') After  this  it  was  easy  to  obtain  or  extort  charters  render- 
ing beneficia  hereditary,  first  in  the  direct  line,  then  in  the  col- 
lateral, and  at  last  in  the  female  line.  Leg.  Longob.,  lib.  iii. 
tit.  8 ;  Du  Cange,  voc.  Beneficium. 

It  is  no  easy  matter  to  fix  the  precise  time  when  each  of  these 
changes  took  place.  M.  1'Abbe  Mably  conjectures,  with  some 
probability,  that  Charles  Martel  first  introduced  the  practice  of 
granting  beneficia  for  life.  (Observat.,  torn.  i.  pp.  103,  160.)  And 
that  Louis  le  Debonnaire  was  among  the  first  who  rendered  them 
hereditary,  is  evident  from  the  authorities  to  which  he  refers. 
(Ibid.,  429.)  Mabillon,  however,  has  published  a  placitum  of 
Louis  le  Debonnaire,  A.D.  860,  by  which  it  appears  that  he  still 
continued  to  grant  some  beneficia  only  during  life.  (De  Re 
Diplomatica,  lib.  vi.  p.  353.)  In  the  year  889,  Odo,  king  of 
France,  granted  lands  to  "  Ricabodo,  fideli  suo,  jure  beneficiario 
et  fructuario,"  during  his  own  life;  and  if  he  should  die,  and  a 
son  were  born  to  him,  that  right  was  to  continue  during  the  life 
of  his  son.  (Mabillon,  ut  supra,  p.  556.)  This  was  an  interme- 
diate step  between  fiefs  merely  during  life  and  fiefs  hereditary  to 
perpetuity.  While  beneficia  continued  under  their  first  form,  and 
were  held  only  during  pleasure,  he  who  granted  them  not  only 
exercised  the  dominium,  or  prerogative  of  superior  lord,  but  he 
retained  the  property,  giving  his  vassal  only  the  usufruct.  But 
under  the  latter  form,  when  they  became  hereditary,  although 
feudal  lawyers  continued  to  define  a  beneficium  agreeably  to  its 
original  nature,  the  property  was  in  effect  taken  out  of  the  hands 
of  the  superior  lords  and  lodged  in  those  of  the  vassal.  As  soon 
as  the  reciprocal  advantages  of  the  feudal  mode  of  tenure  came 
to  be  understood  by  superiors  as  well  as  vassals,  that  species  of 
holding  became  so  agreeable  to  both  that  not  only  lands,  but  casual 
rents,  such  as  the  profits  of  a  toll,  the  fare  paid  at  ferries,  etc.,  the 
salaries  or  perquisites  of  offices,  and  even  pensions  themselves, 
were  granted  and  held  as  fiefs ;  and  military  service  was  promised 
K* 


226  PROOFS  AND   ILLUSTRATIONS. 

and  exacted  on  account  of  these.  (Morice,  Mem.  pour  servir  de 
Preuves  a  1'Hist.  de  Bretagne,  torn.  ii.  pp.  78,  690;  Brussel,  torn. 
i.  p.  41.)  How  absurd  soever  it  may  seem  to  grant  or  to  hold 
such  precarious  and  casual  property  as  a  fief,  there  arc  instances 
of  feudal  tenures  still  more  singular.  The  profits  arising  from  the 
masses  said  at  an  altar  were  properly  an  ecclesiastical  revenue, 
belonging  to  the  clergy  of  the  church  or  monastery  which  per- 
formed that  duty;  but  these  were  sometimes  seized  by  the  power- 
ful barons.  In  order  to  ascertain  their  right  to  them,  they  held 
them  as  fiefs  of  the  Church,  and  parcelled  them  out  in  the  same 
manner  as  other  property  to  their  sub-vassals.  (Bouquet,  Recueil 
des  Hist.,  vol.  x.  pp.  238,  480.)  The  same  spirit  of  encroach- 
ment which  rendered  fiefs  hereditary  led  the  nobles  to  extort  from 
their  sovereigns  hereditary  grants  of  offices.  Many  of  the  great 
offices  of  the  crown  became  hereditary  in  most  of  the  kingdoms 
in  Europe;  and  so  conscious  were  monarchs  of  this  spirit  of 
usurpation  among  the  nobility,  and  so  solicitous  to  guard  against 
it,  that  on  some  occasions  they  obliged  the  persons  whom  they 
promoted  to  any  office  of  dignity  to  grant  an  obligation  that 
neither  they  nor  their  heirs  should  claim  it  as  belonging  to  them 
by  hereditary  right.  A  remarkable  instance  of  this  is  produced, 
M£m.  de  1'Acad.  des  Inscrip.,  torn.  xxx.  p.  595.  Another  occurs 
in  the  Thesaur.  Anecdot.,  published  by  Martene  et  JDurand,  vol. 
i.  p.  873.  This  revolution  in  property  occasioned  a  change  corre- 
sponding to  it  in  political  government ;  the  great  vassals  of  the 
crown,  as  they  acquired  such  extensive  possessions,  usurped  a  pro- 
portional degree  of  power,  depressed  the  jurisdiction  of  the  crown, 
and  trampled  on  the  privileges  of  the  people.  It  is  on  account 
of  this  connection  that  it  becomes  an  object  of  importance  in  his- 
tory to  trace  the  progress  of  feudal  property ;  for  upon  discovering 
in  what  state  property  was  at  any  particular  period  we  may  deter- 
mine with  precision  what  was  the  degree  of  power  possessed  by 
the  king  or  by  the  nobility  at  that  juncture. 

One  circumstance  more,  with  respect  to  the  changes  which 
property  underwent,  deserves  attention.  I  have  shown  that  when 
the  various  tribes  of  barbarians  divided  their  conquests  in  the 
fifth  and  sixth  centuries  the  property  which  they  acquired  was 


PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS.  227 

allodial ;  but  in  several  parts  of  Europe  property  had  become 
almost  entirely  feudal  by  the  beginning  of  the  tenth  century.  The 
former  species  of  property  seems  to  be  so  much  better  and  more 
desirable  than  the  latter  that  such  a  change  appears  surprising, 
especially  when  we  are  informed  that  allodial  property  was  fre- 
quently converted  into  feudal  by  a  voluntary  deed  of  the  posses- 
sor. The  motives  which  determined  them  to  a  choice  so  repug- 
nant to  the  ideas  of  modern  times  concerning  property  have  been 
investigated  and  explained  by  M.  de  Montesquieu,  with  his  usual 
discernment  and  accuracy,  lib.  xxxi.  c.  8.  The  most  considerable 
is  that  of  which  we  have  a  hint  in  Lambertus  Ardensis,  an  ancient 
writer  quoted  by  Du  Cange,  voce  Alodis.  In  those  times  of  an- 
archy and  disorder  which  became  general  in  Europe  after  the 
death  of  Charlemagne,  when  there  was  scarcely  any  union  among 
the  different  members  of  the  community,  and  individuals  were 
exposed,  single  and  undefended  by  government,  to  rapine  and 
oppression,  it  became  necessary  for  every  man  to  have  a  powerful 
protector,  under  whose  banner  he  might  range  himself  and  obtain 
security  against  enemies  whom  singly  he  could  not  oppose.  For 
this  reason  he  relinquished  his  allodial  independence,  and  sub- 
jected himself  to  the  feudal  services,  that  he  might  find  safety 
under  the  patronage  of  some  respectable  superior.  In  some  parts 
of  Europe  this  change  from  allodial  to  feudal  property  became  so 
general  that  he  who  possessed  land  had  no  longer  any  liberty  of 
choice  left:  he  was  obliged  to  recognize  some  liege-lord  and  to 
hold  of  him.  Thus,  Beaumanoir  informs  us  that  in  the  counties 
of  Clermont  and  Beauvois,  if  the  lord  or  count  discovered  any 
land  within  his  jurisdiction  for  which  no  service  was  performed 
and  which  paid  to  him  no  taxes  or  customs,  he  might  instantly 
seize  it  as  his  own ;  for,  says  he,  according  to  our  custom,  no  man 
can  hold  allodial  property.  (Coust.,  chap.  24,  p.  123.)  Upon  the 
same  principle  is  founded  a  maxim  which  has  at  length  become 
general  in  the  law  of  France,  JVulle  terre  sans  seigneur.  In  other 
provinces  of  France  allodial  property  seems  to  have  remained 
longer  unalienated  and  to  have  been  more  highly  valued.  A 
great  number  of  charters,  containing  grants  or  sales  or  exchanges 
of  allodial  lands  in  the  province  of  Languedoc,  are  published 


228  PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

in  Hist,  gener.  de  Langued.,  par  D.  D.  de  Vic  et  Vaisette,  torn.  ii. 
During  the  ninth,  tenth,  and  great  part  of  the  eleventh  century 
the  property  in  that  province  seems  to  have  been  entirely  allodial; 
and  scarcely  any  mention  of  feudal  tenures  occurs  in  the  deeds 
of  that  country.  The  state  of  property  during  these  centuries 
seems  to  have  been  perfectly  similar  in  Catalonia  and  the  country 
of  Roussillon,  as  appears  from  the  original  charters  published  in 
the  Appendix  to  Petr.  de  la  Marca's  treatise  de  Marca  sive  Limite 
Hispanico.  Allodial  property  seems  to  have  continued  in  the  Low 
Countries  to  a  period  still  later.  During  the  eleventh,  twelfth, 
and  thirteenth  centuries  this  species  of  property  appears  to  have 
been  of  considerable  extent.  (Miraei,  Opera  Diplom.,  vol.  i.  pp. 
34.  74.  75.  83,  817,  296,  842,  847,  578.)  Some  vestiges  of  allo- 
dial property  appear  there  as  late  as  the  fourteenth  century. 
(Ibid.,  p.  218.)  Several  facts  which  prove  that  allodial  property 
subsisted  in  different  parts  of  Europe  long  after  the  introduction 
of  feudal  tenures,  and  which  tend  to  illustrate  the  distinction 
between  these  two  different  species  of  possession,  are  produced  by 
M.  Houard,  Anciennes  Loix  des  Francois,  conserv6es  dans  les 
Coutumes  Angloises,  vol.  i.  p.  192,  etc.  The  notions  of  men  with 
respect  to  property  vary  according  to  the  diversity  of  their  under- 
standings and  the  caprice  of  their  passions.  At  the  same  time 
that  some  persons  were  fond  of  relinquishing  allodial  property  in 
order  to  hold  it  by  feudal  tenure,  others  seem  to  have  been 
solicitous  to  convert  their  fiefs  into  allodial  property.  An  instance 
of  this  occurs  in  a  charter  of  Louis  le  Debonnaire,  published  by 
Eckhard,  Commentarii  de  Rebus  Franciae  Orientalis,  vol.  ii.  p. 
885.  Another  occurs  in  the  year  1299  (Reliquiae  MSS.  omnis 
jEvi,  by  Ludwig,  vol.  i.  p.  209);  and  even  one  as  late  as  the 
year  1337  (ibid.,  vol.  vii.  p.  40).  The  same  thing  took  place  in 
the  Low  Countries.  Mirsei  Open,  i.  52. 

In  tracing  these  various  revolutions  of  property  I  have  hitherto 
chiefly  confined  myself  to  what  happened  in  France,  because  the 
ancient  monuments  of  that  nation  have  either  been  more  carefully 
preserved,  or  have  been  more  clearly  illustrated,  than  those  of  any 
people  in  Europe. 

In  Italy  the  same  revolutions  happened  in  property  and  sue- 


PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


229 


ceeded  each  other  in  the  same  order.  There  is  some  ground, 
however,  for  conjecturing  that  allodial  property  continued  longer 
in  estimation  among  the  Italians  than  among  the  French.  It 
appears  that  many  of  the  charters  granted  by  the  emperors  in  the 
ninth  century  conveyed  an  allodial  right  to  land.  (Murat.,  Antiq. 
Med.  JE\i,  vol.  i.  p.  575,  etc.)  But  in  the  eleventh  century  we 
find  some  examples  of  persons  who  resigned  their  allodial  prop- 
erty and  received  it  back  as  a  feudal  tenure.  (Ibid.,  p.  610,  etc.) 
Muratori  observes  that  the  •worAfettdttm,  which  came  to  be  sub- 
stituted in  place  of  beneficium,  does  not  occur  in  any  authentic 
charter  previous  to  the  eleventh  century.  (Ibid.,  p.  594.)  A  charter 
of  King  Robert  of  France,  A.D.  1008,  is  the  earliest  deed  in 
which  I  have  met  with  the  v/or&feudum.  (Bouquet,  Recueil  des 
Historiens  des  Gaules  et  de  la  France,  torn.  x.  p.  593,  b.)  This 
word  occurs,  indeed,  in  an  edict,  A.D.  790,  published  by  Brussel, 
vol.  i.  p.  77.  But  the  authenticity  of  that  deed  has  been  called 
in  question,  and  perhaps  the  frequent  use  of  the  wotiiftudttttt  in 
it  is  an  additional  reason  for  doing  so.  The  account  which  I 
have  given  of  the  nature  both  of  allodial  and  feudal  possessions 
receives  some  confirmation  from  the  etymology  of  the  words 
themselves.  Alode  or  allodium  is  compounded  of  the  German 
particle  an  and  lot,  i.e.,  land  obtained  by  lot.  ( Wachteri  Glossar. 
Germanicum,  voc.  Allodiiim,  p.  35.)  It  appears  from  the  authori- 
ties produced  by  him,  and  by  Du  Cange,  voc.  Sors,  that  the  North- 
ern nations  divided  the  lands  which  they  had  conquered  in  this 
manner.  Feodum  is  compounded  of  od,  possession  or  estate,  and 
feo,  wages,  pay;  intimating  that  it  was  stipendiary  and  granted 
as  a  recompense  for  service.  VVachterus,  ibid.,  voc.  Feodum,  p. 
441. 

The  progress  of  the  feudal  system  among  the  Germans  was 
perfectly  similar  to  that  which  we  have  traced  in  France.  But 
as  the  emperors  of  Germany,  especially  after  the  imperial  crown 
passed  from  the  descendants  of  Charlemagne  to  the  house  of 
Saxony,  were  far  superior  to  the  contemporary  monarchs  of  France 
in  abilities,  the  imperial  vassals  did  not  aspire  so  early  to  inde- 
pendence, nor  did  they  so  soon  obtain  the  privilege  of  possessing 
their  benefices  by  hereditary  right.  According  to  the  compilers 
Charles. — VOL.  I.  20 


270  PROOFS  AND   ILLUSTRATIONS. 

\J 

of  the  Libri  Feudorum,  Conrad  II.,  or  the  Salic,  was  the  first 
emperor  who  rendered  fiefs  hereditary.  (Lib.  i.  tit.  i.)  Conrad 
began  his  reign  A.D.  1024.  Ludovicus  Pius,  under  whose  reign 
grants  of  hereditary  fiefs  were  frequent  in  France,  succeeded  his 
father  A.D.  814.  Not  only  was  this  innovation  so  much  later  in 
being  introduced  among  the  vassals  of  the  German  emperors,  but 
even  after  Conrad  had  established  it  the  law  continued  favorable 
to  the  ancient  practice;  and  unless  the  charter  of  the  vassal  bore 
expressly  that  the  fief  descended  to  his  heirs,  it  was  presumed  to 
be  granted  only  during  life.  (Lib.  Feud.,  ibid.)  Even  after  the 
alteration  made  by  Conrad,  it  was  not  uncommon  in  Germany  to 
grant  fiefs  only  for  life.  A  charter  of  this  kind  occurs  as  late  as 
the  year  1376.  (Charta,  ap.  Boehmer.,  Princip.  Jur.  Feud.,  p.  361.) 
The  transmission  of  fiefs  to  collateral  and  female  heirs  took  place 
very  slowly  among  the  Germans.  There  is  extant  a  charter,  A.D. 
1201,  conveying  the  right  of  succession  to  females;  but  it  is 
granted  as  an  extraordinary  mark  of  favor  and  in  reward  of 
uncommon  services.  (Boehmer.,  ibid.  p.  365.)  In  Germany,  as 
well  as  in  France  and  Italy,  a  considerable  part  of  the  lands 
continued  to  be  allodial  long  after  the  feudal  mode  of  tenure  was 
introduced.  It  appears  from  the  Codex  Diplomaticus  Monasterii 
Buch  that  a  great  part  of  the  lands  in  the  marquisate  of  Misnia 
was  still  allodial  as  late  as  the  thirteenth  century.  (No.  31,  36,  37, 
46,  etc.,  ap.  Scriptores  Hist.  German.,  cura  Schoetgenii  et  Krey- 
sigii,  Altenb.,  1755,  vol.  ii.  p.  183,  etc.)  Allodial  property  seems 
to  have  been  common  in  another  district  of  the  same  province 
during  the  same  period.  Reliquiae  Diplomaticse  Sanctimonial., 
Beutiz.,  No.  17,  36,  58,  ibid.  374,  etc. 

NOTE  IX. — Sect.  I.  p.  19. 

As  I  shall  have  occasion,  in  another  note,  to  represent  the  con- 
dition of  that  part  of  the  people  who  dwelt  in  cities,  I  will  confine 
myself  in  this  to  consider  the  state  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  country. 
The  persons  employed  in  cultivating  the  ground  during  the  ages 
under  review  may  be  divided  into  three  classes: — I.  Servi,  or 
slaves.  This  seems  to  have  been  the  most  numerous  class,  and 


PROOFS  AND   ILLUSTRATIONS. 


231 


consisted  either  of  captives  taken  in  war,  or  of  persons  the 
property  in  whom  was  acquired  in  some  one  of  the  various 
methods  enumerated  by  Du  Cange,  voc.  Servus,  vol.  vi.  p.  447- 
The  wretched  condition  of  this  numerous  race  of  men  will  appear 
from  several  circumstances.  I.  Their  masters  had  absolute  do- 
minion over  their  persons.  They  had  the  power  of  punishing 
their  slaves  capitally,  without  the  intervention  of  any  judge.  This 
dangerous  right  they  possessed  not  only  in  the  more  early  periods 
when  their  manners  were  fierce,  but  it  continued  as  late  as  the 
twelfth  century.  (Joach.  Potgiesserus  de  Statu  Servorum,  Lem- 
gov.,  1736,410,  lib.  ii.  cap.  I,  \\  4,  10,  13,  24.)  Even  after  this 
jurisdiction  of  masters  came  to  be  restrained,  the  life  of  a  slave 
was  deemed  to  be  of  so  little  value  that  a  very  slight  compensation 
atoned  for  taking  it  away.  (Idem,  lib.  iii.  c.  6.)  If  masters  had 
power  over  the  lives  of  their  slaves,  it  is  evident  that  almost  no 
bounds  would  be  set  to  the  rigor  of  the  punishments  which  they 
might  inflict  upon  them.  The  codes  of  ancient  laws  prescribed 
punishments  for  the  crimes  of  slaves  different  from  those  which 
were  inflicted  on  freemen.  The  latter  paid  only  a  fine  or  com- 
pensation ;  the  former  were  subjected  to  corporal  punishments. 
The  cruelty  of  these  was,  in  many  instances,  excessive.  Slaves 
might  be  put  to  the  rack  on  very  slight  occasions.  The  laws  with 
respect  to  these  points  are  to  be  found  in  Potgiesserus,  lib.  iii.  c.  7, 
\  2,  and  are  shocking  to  humanity.  2.  If  the  dominion  of  masters 
over  the  lives  and  persons  of  their  slaves  was  thus  extensive,  it 
was  no  less  so  over  their  actions  and  property.  They  were  not 
originally  permitted  to  marry.  Male  and  female  slaves  were 
allowed,  and  even  encouraged,  to  cohabit  together.  But  this 
union  was  not  considered  as  a  marriage :  it  was  called  contuber- 
nium,  not  nuptia:  or  malrimonium.  (Potgiess.,  lib.  ii.  c.  2,  \  I.) 
This  notion  was  so  much  established  that,  during  several  centuries 
after  the  barbarous  nations  embraced  the  Christian  religion,  slaves 
who  lived  as  husband  and  wife  were  not  joined  together  by  any 
religious  ceremony,  and  did  not  receive  the  nuptial  benediction 
from  a  priest.  (Ibid.,  \\  10,  ii.)  When  this  conjunction  between 
slaves  came  to  be  considered  as  a  lawful  marriage,  they  were  not 
permitted  to  marry  without  the  consent  of  their  master,  and  such  as 


232 


PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


ventured  to  do  so  without  obtaining  that  were  punished  with  great 
severity,  and  sometimes  were  put  to  death.  (Potgiess.,  ibid.,  \  12, 
etc.;  Gregor.  Turon.,  Hist.,  lib.  v.  c.  3.)  When  the  manners  of 
the  European  nations  became  more  gentle,  and  their  ideas  more 
liberal,  slaves  who  married  without  their  master's  consent  were 
subjected  only  to  a  fine.  (Potgiess.,  ibid.,  §  20 ;  Du  Cange,  Gloss, 
voc.  Forismaritagium.}  3.  All  the  children  of  slaves  were  in  the 
same  condition  with  their  parents,  and  became  the  property  of  the 
master.  (Du  Cange,  Gloss.,  voc.  Servus,  vol.  vi.  p.  450;  Murat., 
Antiq.  Ital.,  vol.  i.  p.  766.)  4.  Slaves  were  so  entirely  the  property 
of  their  masters  that  they  could  sell  them  at  pleasure.  While  do- 
mestic slavery  continued,  property  in  a  slave  was  sold  in  the  same 
manner  with  that  which  a  person  had  in  any  other  movable. 
Afterwards  slaves  became  adscripti  glebes,  and  were  conveyed  by 
sale  together  with  the  farm  or  estate  to  which  they  belonged. 
Potgiesserus  has  collected  the  laws  and  charters  which  illustrate 
this  well-known  circumstance  in  the  condition  of  slaves.  (Lib.  ii. 
c.  4.)  5.  Slaves  had  a  title  to  nothing  but  subsistence  and  clothes 
from  their  master;  all  the  profits  of  their  labor  accrued  to  him. 
If  a  master,  from  indulgence,  gave  his  slaves  any  peculium,  or 
fixed  allowance  for  their  subsistence,  they  had  no  right  of  property 
in  what  they  saved  out  of  that.  All  that  they  accumulated  be- 
longed to  their  master.  (Potgiess.,  lib.  ii.  c.  IO;  Murat.,  Antiq. 
Ital.,  vol.  i.  p.  768;  Du  Cange,  voc.  Servus,  vol.  vi.  p.  451.) 
Conformably  to  the  same  principle,  all  the  effects  of  slaves  be- 
longed to  their  masters  at  their  death,  and  they  could  not  dispose 
of  them  by  testament.  (Potgiess.,  lib.  ii.  c.  ii.)  6.  Slaves  were 
distinguished  from  freemen  by  a  peculiar  dress.  Among  all  the 
barbarous  nations,  long  hair  was  a  mark  of  dignity  and  of  free- 
dom; slaves  were,  for  that  reason,  obliged  to  shave  their  heads; 
and  by  this  distinction,  how  indifferent  soever  it  may  be  in  its  own 
nature,  they  were  reminded  every  moment  of  the  inferiority  of 
their  condition.  (Potgiess.,  lib.  iii.  c.  4.)  For  the  same  reason, 
it  was  enacted  in  the  laws  of  almost  all  the  nations  of  Europe  that 
no  slave  should  be  admitted  to  give  evidence  against  a  freeman  in 
a  court  of  justice.  Du  Cange,  voc.  Servus,  vol.  vi.  p.  451 ;  Pot- 
giess., lib.  iii.  c.  3. 


PROOFS  AND   ILLUSTRATIONS. 


233 


II.  Villani.     They  were  likewise  adscripti  glebce  or  villa,  from 
which  they  derived  their  name,  and  were  transferable  along  with 
it.     (Du  Cange,  voc.  Villanus.)     But  in  this  they  differed  from 
slaves,  that  they  paid  a  fixed  rent  to  their  master  for  the  land 
which  they  cultivated,  and,  after  paying  that,  all  the  fruits  of  their 
labor  and  industry  belonged  to  themselves  in   property.      This 
distinction  is  marked  by  Pierre  de  Fontain's  Conseil.  Vie  de  St. 
Louis  par  Joinville,  p.  119,  edit,  de  Du  Cange.      Several  cases 
decided  agreeably  to  this  principle  are  mentioned  by  Murat,  ibid., 

P-  773- 

III.  The  last  class  of  persons  employed  in   agriculture  were 
freemen.     These  are  distinguished  by  various  names  among  the 
writers  of  the  Middle  Ages,  arimanni,  conditionales,  originarii, 
tributales,  etc.     These  seem  to  have  been  persons  who  possessed 
some  small  allodial  property  of  their  own,  and,  besides  that,  culti- 
vated some  farm  belonging  to  their  more  wealthy  neighbors,  for 
which  they  paid  a  fixed  rent,  and  bound  themselves  likewise  to 
perform  several  small  services  in  praio  vel  in  messe,  in  aratura 
vel  in  vinea,  such  as  ploughing  a  certain  quantity  of  their  land- 
lord's ground,  assisting  him  in  harvest  and  vintage  work,  etc.    The 
clearest  proof  of  this  may  be  found  in  Muratori,  vol.  i.  p.  712,  and 
in  Du  Cange,  under  the  respective  words  above  mentioned.     I 
have  not  been  able  to  discover  whether  these  at  imanni,  etc.,  were 
removable  at  pleasure,  or  held  their  farms  by  k;,se  for  a  certain 
number  of  years.     The  former,  if  we  may  judge  Irom  the  genius 
and  maxims  of  the  age,  seems  to  be  the  most  probable.     These 
persons,  however,  were  considered  as  freemen  in  tht  most  honor- 
able sense  of  the  word :  they  enjoyed  all  the  privileges  of  that 
condition,  and  were  even  called  to  serve  in  war;    an  honor  to 
which  no  slave  was  admitted.     (Murat.,  Antiq.,  vol.  i.  p.  743, 
vol.  ii.  p.  446.)     This  account  of  the  condition  of  these  three 
different  classes  of  persons  will  enable  the  reader  to  apprehend  the 
full  force  of  an  argument  which  I  shall  produce  in  confirmation 
of  what  I  have  said  in  the  text  concerning  the  wretched  state  of 
the  people  during  the  Middle  Ages.    Notwithstanding  the  immense 
difference  between  the  first  of  these  classes  and  the  third,  such  was 
the  spirit  of  tyranny  which  prevailed  among  the  great  proprietors 

20* 


234 


PROOFS  AND   ILLUSTRATIONS. 


of  lands,  and  so  various  their  opportunities  of  oppressing  those 
who  were  settled  on  their  estates,  and  of  rendering  their  condition 
intolerable,  that  many  freemen,  in  despair,  renounced  their  liberty 
and  voluntarily  surrendered  themselves  as  slaves  to  their  powerful 
masters.  This  they  did  in  order  that  their  masters  might  become 
more  immediately  interested  to  afford  them  protection,  together 
with  the  means  of  subsisting  themselves  and  their  families.  The 
forms  of  such  a  surrender,  or  obnoxiatio,  as  it  was  then  called, 
are  preserved  by  Marculfus,  lib.  ii.  c.  28,  and  by  the  anonymous 
author  published  by  M.  Bignon  together  with  the  collection  of 
fornmks  compiled  by  Marculfus,  c.  16.  In  both,  the  reason  given 
for  th^e  obnoxiatio  is  the  wretched  and  indigent  condition  of  the 
person  who  gives  up  his  liberty.  It  was  still  more  common  for 
freemen  to  surrender  their  liberty  to  bishops  or  abbots,  that  they 
might  partake  of  the  security  which  the  vassals  and  slaves  of 
churches  and  monasteries  enjoyed,  in  consequence  of  the  super- 
stitious veneration  paid  to  the  saint  under  whose  immediate  pro- 
tection they  were  supposed  to  be  taken.  (Du  Cange,  voc.  Oblatus, 
vol.  iv.  p.  1286.)  That  condition  must  have  been  miserable  indeed 
which  could  induce  a  freeman  voluntarily  to  renounce  his  liberty 
and  to  give  up  himself  as  a  slave  to  the  disposal  of  another.  The 
number  of  slaves  in  every  nation  of  Europe  was  immense.  The 
greater  part  of  the  inferior  class  of  people  in  France  were  reduced 
to  this  state  at  the  commencement  of  the  third  race  of  kings. 
(L' Esprit  des  Loix,  liv.  xxx.  c.  n.)  The  same  was  the  case  in 
England.  (Brady,  Pref.  to  Gen.  Hist.)  Many  curious  facts  with 
respect  to  the  ancient  state  of  villains  or  slaves  in  England  are 
published  in  Observations  on  the  Statutes,  chiefly  the  more  ancient, 
3d  edit.,  p.  269,  etc. 

NOTE  X. — Sect.  I.  p.  22. 

Innumerable  proofs  of  this  might  be  produced.  Many  charters, 
granted  by  persons  of  the  highest  rank,  are  preserved,  from  which 
it  appears  that  they  could  not  subscribe  their  name.  It  was  usual 
for  persons  who  could  not  write  to  make  the  sign  of  the  cross  in 
confirmation  of  a  charter.  Several  of  these  remain  where  kings 


PJROOFS  AND   ILLUSTRATIONS. 


235 


and  persons  of  great  eminence  affix  signum  crucis  manu  propria 
pro  ignorati one  liter  arum.  (Du  Cange,voc.  Crux,  vol.  iii.p.  1191.) 
From  this  is  derived  the  phrase  of  signing  instead  of  subscribing 
a  paper.  In  the  ninth  century,  Herbaud,  Comes  Palatii,  though 
supreme  judge  of  the  empire  by  virtue  of  his  office,  could  not 
subscribe  his  name.  (Nouveau  Trait£  de  Diplomatique,  par  deux 
Benedictins,  410,  torn.  ii.  p.  422.)  As  late  as  the  fourteenth  cen- 
tury, Du  Guesclin,  constable  of  France,  the  greatest  man  in  the 
state,  and  one  of  the  greatest  men  of  his  age,  could  neither  read 
nor  write.  (Ste.  Palaye,  Memoires  sur  1'ancienne  Chevalerie,  tit. 
ii.  p.  82.)  Nor  was  this  ignorance  confined  to  laymen :  the 
greater  part  of  the  clergy  was  not  many  degrees  superior  to  them 
in  science.  Many  dignified  ecclesiastics  could  not  subscribe  the 
canons  of  those  councils  in  which  they  sat  as  members.  (Nouv. 
Trait6  de  Diplom.,  torn.  ii.  p.  424.)  One  of  the  questions  ap- 
pointed by  the  canons  to  be  put  to  persons  who  were  candidates 
for  orders  was  this  :  "  Whether  they  could  read  the  gospels  and 
epistles,  and  explain  the  sense  of  them,  at  least  literally  ?"  (Regino 
Prumiensis,  ap.  Bruck.,  Hist.  Philos.,  v.  iii.  p.  631.)  Alfred  the 
Great  complained  that  from  the  Humber  to  the  Thames  there  was 
not  a  priest  who  understood  the  liturgy  in  his  mother-tongue  or 
who  could  translate  the  easiest  piece  of  Latin,  and  that  from  the 
Thames  to  the  sea  the  ecclesiastics  were  still  more  ignorant. 
(Asserus  de  Rebus  gestis  Alfred!,  ap.  Camdeni  Anglica,  etc.,  p. 
25.)  The  ignorance  of  the  clergy  is  quaintly  described  by  an 
author  of  the  Dark  Ages :  "  Potius  dediti  guise  quam  glossae ; 
potius  colligunt  libras  quam  legunt  libros ;  libentius  intuentur, 
Martham  quam  Marcum;  malunt  legere  in  Salmone  quam  in 
Solomone."  (Alanus  de  Art.  Predicat.,  ap.  Lebeuf,  Dissert.,  torn, 
ii.  p.  21.)  To  the  obvious  causes  of  such  universal  ignorance, 
arising  from  the  state  of  government  and  manners,  from  the  sev- 
enth to  the  eleventh  century,  we  may  add  the  scarcity  of  books 
during  that  period,  and  the  difficulty  of  rendering  them  more 
common.  The  Romans  wrote  their  books  either  on  parchment  or 
on  paper  made  of  the  Egyptian  papyrus.  The  latter,  being  the 
cheapest,  was  of  course  the  most  commonly  used.  But  after  the 
Saracens  conquered  Egypt,  in  the  seventh  century,  the  communi- 


236 


PROOFS  AND   ILLUSTRATIONS. 


cation  between  that  country  and  the  people  settled  in  Italy  or  in 
other  parts  of  Europe  was  almost  entirely  broken  off,  and  the 
papyrus  was  no  longer  in  use  among  them.  They  were  obliged, 
on  that  account,  to  write  all  their  books  upon  parchment,  and,  as 
the  price  of  that  was  high,  books  became  extremely  rare  and  of 
great  value.  We  may  judge  of  the  scarcity  of  the  materials  for 
writing  them  from  one  circumstance.  There  still  remain  several 
manuscripts  of  the  eighth,  ninth,  and  following  centuries,  written 
on  parchment  from  which  some  former  writing  had  been  erased 
in  order  to  substitute  a  new  composition  in  its  place.  In  this 
manner  it  is  probable  that  several  works  of  the  ancients  perished. 
A  bopk  of  Livy  or  of  Tacitus  might  be  erased  to  make  room  for 
the  legendary  tale  of  a  saint  or  the  superstitious  prayers  of  a 
missal.  (Murat.,  Antiq.  Ital.,  vol.  iii.  p.  833.)  P.  de  Montfaucon 
affirms  that  the  greater  part  of  the  manuscripts  on  parchment 
which  he  has  seen,  those  of  an  ancient  date  excepted,  are  written 
on  parchment  from  which  some  former  treatise  had  been  erased. 
(Mem.  de  1'Acad.  des  Inscript.,  torn.  ix.  p.  325.)  As  the  want 
of  materials  for  writing  is  one  reason  why  so  many  of  the  works 
of  the  ancients  have  perished,  it  accounts  likewise  for  the  small 
number  of  manuscripts  of  any  kind  previous  to  the  eleventh  cen- 
tury, when  they  began  to  multiply,  from  a  cause  which  shall  be 
mentioned.  (Hist,  litter,  de  France,  torn.  vi.  p.  6.)  Many  cir- 
cumstances prove  the  scarcity  of  books  during  these  ages.  Private 
persons  seldom  possessed  any  books  whatever.-  Even  monasteries 
of  considerable  note  had  only  one  missal.  (Murat.,  Antiq.,  vol. 
ix.  p.  789.)  Lupus,  abbot  of  Ferrieres,  in  a  letter  to  the  pope, 
A.D.  855,  beseeches  him  to  lend  him  a  copy  of  Cicero  de  Oratore 
and  Quintilian's  Institutions ;  "  for,"  says  he,  "  although  we  have 
parts  of  those  books,  there  is  no  complete  copy  of  them  in  all 
France."  (Murat.,  Antiq.,  vol.  iii.  p.  835.)  The  price  of  books 
became  so  high  that  persons  of  a  moderate  fortune  could  not 
afford  to  purchase  them.  The  countess  of  Anjou  paid  for  a  copy 
of  the  Homilies  of  Haimon,  bishop  of  Halberstadt,  two  hundred 
sheep,  five  quarters  of  wheat,  and  the  same  quantity  of  rye  and 
millet.  (Histoire  litt£raire  de  France,  par  des  Religieux  B6n6- 
dictins,  torn.  vii.  p.  3.)  Even  so  late  as  the  year  1471,  when 


PROOFS  AND   ILLUSTRATIONS. 


237 


Louis  XI.  borrowed  the  works  of  Rasis,  the  Arabian  physician, 
from  the  faculty  of  medicine  in  Paris,  he  not  only  deposited  in 
pledge  a  considerable  quantity  of  plate,  but  was  obliged  to  procure 
a  nobleman  to  join  with  him  as  surety  in  a  deed,  binding  himself, 
under  a  great  forfeiture,  to  restore  it.  (Gabr.  Naudd,  Addit.  a 
1'Histoire  de  Louys  XI.  par  Comines,  edit,  de  Fresnoy,  torn.  iv. 
p.  281.)  Many  curious  circumstances  with  respect  to  the  extrava- 
gant price  of  books  in  the  Middle  Ages  are  collected  by  that  in- 
dustrious compiler,  to  whom  I  refer  such  of  my  readers  as  deem 
this  small  branch  of  literary  history  an  object  of  curiosity.  When 
any  person  made  a  present  of  a  book  to  a.  church  or  monastery, 
in  which  were  the  only  libraries  during  several  ages,  it  was  deemed 
a  donative  of  such  value  that  he  offered  it  on  the  altar  pro  remedio 
animce  suce,  in  order  to  obtain  the  forgiveness  of  his  sins.  (Murat., 
vol.  iii.  p.  836 ;  Hist,  litter,  de  France,  torn.  vi.  p.  6 ;  Nouv.  Trait, 
de  Diplomat.,  par  deux  Benedictins,  4to,  torn.  i.  p.  481.)  In  the 
eleventh  century  the  art  of  making  paper,  in  the  manner  now  be- 
come universal,  was  invented ;  by  means  of  that,  not  only  the 
number  of  manuscripts  increased,  but  the  study  of  the  sciences 
was  wonderfully  facilitated.  (Murat.,  ib.,  p.  871.)  The  invention 
of  the  art  of  making  paper,  and  the  invention  of  the  art  of  print- 
ing, are  two  considerable  events  in  literary  history.  It  is  remark- 
able that  the  former  preceded  the  first  dawning  of  letters  and 
improvement  in  knowledge  towards  the  close  of  the  eleventh 
century ;  the  latter  ushered  in  the  light  which  spread  over  Europe 
at  the  era  of  the  Reformation. 

NOTE  XI. — Sect.  I.  p.  22. 

All  the  religious  maxims  and  practices  of  the  Dark  Ages  are  a 
proof  of  this.  I  shall  produce  one  remarkable  testimony  in  con- 
firmation of  it,  from  an  author  canonized  by  the  Church  of  Rome, 
St.  Eloy,  or  Egidius,  bishop  of  Noyon,  in  the  seventh  century. 
'i^He  is  a  good  Christian  who  comes  frequently  to  church ;  who 
presents  the  oblation  which  is  offered  to  God  upon  the  altar;  who 
doth  not  taste  the  fruits  of  his  own  industry  until  he  has  conse- 
crated a  part  of  them  to  God;  who,  when  the  holy  festivals 


238  PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

approach,  lives  chastely  even  with  his  own  wife  during  several 
days,  that  with  a  safe  conscience  he  may  draw  near  the  altar  of 
God ;  and  who,  in  the  last  place,  can  repeat  the  Creed  and  the 
Lord's  Prayer.  Redeem  then  your  souls  from  destruction  while 
you  have  the  means  in  your  power :  offer  presents  and  tithes  to 
churchmen ;  come  more  frequently  to  church ;  humbly  implore 
the  patronage  of  the  saints;  for,  if  you  observe  these  things,  you 
may  come  with  security  in  the  day  of  retribution  to  the  tribunal 
of  the  Eternal  Judge,  and  say,  '  Give  to  us,  O  Lord,  for  we  have 
given  unto  thee.'  "  (Dacherii  Spicilegium  Vet.  Script.,  vol.  ii. 
p.  94.)  The  learned  and  judicious  translator  of  Dr.  Mosheim's 
Ecclesiastical  History,  to  one  of  whose  additional  notes  I  am 
indebted  for  my  knowledge  of  this  passage,  subjoins  a  very  proper 
reflection :  "  We  see  here  a  large  and  ample  description  of  a  good 
Christian,  in  which  there  is  not  the  least  mention  of  the  love  of 
God,  resignation  to  his  will,  obedience  to  his  laws,  or  of  justice, 
benevolence,  and  charity  towards  men."  Mosh.,  Eccles.  Hist., 
vol.  i.  p.  324. 

NOTE  XII.— Sect.  I.  p.  23. 

That  infallibility  in  all  its  determinations,  to  which  the  Church 
of  Rome  pretends,  has  been  attended  with  one  unhappy  conse- 
quence. As  it  is  impossible  to  relinquish  any  opinion  or  to  alter 
any  practice  which  has  been  established  by  authority  that  cannot 
err,  all  its  institutions  and  ceremonies  must  be  immutable  and 
everlasting,  and  the  Church  must  continue  to  observe  in  enlight- 
ened times  those  rites  which  were  introduced  during  the  ages  of 
darkness  and  credulity.  What  delighted  and  edified  the  latter 
must  disgust  and  shock  the  former.  Many  of  the  rites  observed 
in  the  Romish  Church  appear  manifestly  to  have  been  introduced 
by  a  superstition  of  the  lowest  and  most  illiberal  species.  Many 
of  them  were  borrowed,  with  little  variation,  from  the  religious 
ceremonies  established  among  the  ancient  heathens.  Some  were 
so  ridiculous  that,  if  every  age  did  not  furnish  instances  of  the 
fascinating  influence  of  superstition,  as  well  as  of  the  whimsical 
forms  which  it  assumes,  it  must  appear  incredible  that  they  should 
have  been  ever  received  or  tolerated.  In  several  churches  of 


PROOFS  AND   ILLUSTRATIONS. 


239 


France  they  celebrated  a  festival  in  commemoration  of  the  Virgin 
Mary's  Flight  into  Egypt.  It  was  called  the  Feast  of  the  Ass.  A 
young  girl,  richly  dressed,  with  a  child  in  her  arms,  was  set  upon 
an  ass  superbly  caparisoned.  The  ass  was  led  to  the  altar  in 
solemn  procession.  High  mass  was  said  with  great  pomp.  The 
ass  was  taught  to  kneel  at  proper  places ;  a  hymn  no  less  childish 
than  impious  was  sung  in  his  praise ;  and,  when  the  ceremony 
was  ended,  the  priest,  instead  of  the  usual  words  with  which  he 
dismissed  the  people,  brayed  three  times  like  an  ass,  and  the 
people,  instead  of  the  usual  response,  "We  bless  the  Lord," 
brayed  three  times  in  the  same  manner.  (Du  Cange,  voc.  Festum, 
vol.  iii.  p.  424.)  This  ridiculous  ceremony  was  not,  like  the  fes- 
tival of  fools,  and  some  other  pageants  of  those  ages,  a  mere 
farcical  entertainment  exhibited  in  a  church,  and  mingled,  as  was 
then  the  custom,  with  an  imitation  of  some  religious  rites :  it  was 
an  act  of  devotion,  performed  by  the  ministers  of  religion  and  by 
the  authority  of  the  Church.  However,  as  this  practice  did  not 
prevail  universally  in  the  Catholic  Church,  its  absurdity  con- 
tributed at  last  to  abolish  it. 

NOTE  XIII.— Sect.  I.  p.  28. 

As  there  is  no  event  in  the  history  of  mankind  more  singular 
than  that  of  the  crusades,  every  circumstance  that  tends  to  explain 
or  to  give  any  rational  account  of  this  extraordinary  frenzy  of  the 
human  mind  is  interesting.  I  have  asserted  in  the  text  that  the 
minds  of  men  were  prepared  gradually  for  the  amazing  effort 
which  they  made  in  consequence  of  the  exhortations  of  Peter  the 
Hermit,  by  several  occurrences  previous  to  his  time.  A  more 
particular  detail  of  this  curious  and  obscure  part  of  history  may 
perhaps  appear  to  some  of  my  readers  to  be  of  importance.  That 
the  end  of  the  world  was  expected  about  the  close  of  the  tenth 
and  beginning  of  the  eleventh  century,  and  that  this  occasioned  a 
general  alarm,  is  evident  from  the  authors  to  whom  I  have  re- 
ferred in  the  text.  This  belief  was  so  universal  and  so  strong 
that  it  mingled  itself  with  civil  transactions.  Many  charters  in 
the  latter  part  of  the  tenth  century  begin  in  this  manner:  "Appro- 


240 


PROOFS  AND   ILLUSTRATIONS. 


pinquante  mundi  termino,"  etc.  As  the  end  of  the  world  is  now 
at  hand,  and  by  various  calamities  and  judgments  the  signs  of  its 
approach  are  now  manifest.  (Hist,  de  Langued.,  par  D.  D.  de 
Vic  et  Vaisette,  torn.  ii. ;  Preuves,  pp.  86,  89,  90,  117,  158,  etc.) 
One  effect  of  this  opinion  was  that  a  great  number  of  pilgrims 
resorted  to  Jerusalem,  with  a  resolution  to  die  there,  or  to  wait 
the  coming  of  the  Lord;  kings,  earls,  marquises,  bishops,  and 
even  a  great  number  of  women,  besides  persons  of  an  inferior 
rank,  flocked  to  the  Holy  Land.  (Glaber.  Rodulph.,  Hist.,  apud 
Bouquet,  Recueil,  torn.  x.  pp.  50,  52.)  Another  historian  men- 
tions a  vast  cavalcade  of  pilgrims  who  accompanied  the  count  of 
Angoulfime  to  Jerusalem  in  the  year  1026.  (Chronic.  Ademari, 
ibid., 'p.  162.)  Upon  their  return,  these  pilgrims  filled  Europe 
with  lamentable  accounts  of  the  state  of  Christians  in  the  Holy 
Land.  (Willerm.  Tyr.,  Hist.,  ap.  Gest.  Dei  per  Franc.,  vol.  ii.  p. 
636;  Guibert.  Abbat.,  Hist.,  ibid.,  vol.  i.  p.  476.)  Besides  this, 
it  was  usual  for  many  of  the  Christian  inhabitants  of  Jerusalem, 
as  well  as  of  other  cities  in  the  East,  to  travel  as  mendicants 
through  Europe,  and,  by  describing  the  wretched  condition  of  the 
professors  of  the  Christian  faith  under  the  dominion  of  infidels,  to 
extort  charity,  and  to  excite  zealous  persons  to  make  some  attempt 
in  order  to  deliver  them  from  oppression.  (Baldrici  Archiepiscopi 
Histor.,  ap.  Gesta  Dei,  etc.,  vol.  i.  p.  86.)  In  the  year  986,  Ger- 
bert,  archbishop  of  Ravenna,  afterwards  Pope  Silvester  II.,  ad- 
dressed a  letter  to  all  Christians  in  the  name  of  the  church  of 
Jerusalem.  It  is  eloquent  and  pathetic,  and  contains  a  formal 
exhortation  to  take  arms  against  the  pagan  oppressors  in  order  to 
rescue  the  holy  city  from  their  yoke.  (Gerberti  Epistolse,  ap.  Bou- 
quet, Recueil,  torn.  x.  p.  426.)  In  consequence  of  this  spirited  call, 
some  subjects  of  the  republic  of  Pisa  equipped  a  fleet  and  invaded 
the  territories  of  the  Mahometans  in  Syria.  (Murat.,  Script.  Rer. 
Italic.,  vol.  iii.  p.  400.)  The  alarm  was  taken  in  the  East,  and  an 
opinion  prevailed,  A.D.  1010,  that  all  the  forces  of  Christendom 
were  to  unite  in  order  to  drive  the  Mahometans  out  of  Palestine. 
(Chron.  Ademari,  ap.  Bouquet,  torn.  x.  p.  152.)  It  is  evident 
from  all  these  particulars  that  the  ideas  which  led  the  crusaders 
to  undertake  their  wild  enterprise  did  not  arise,  according  to  the 


PROOFS  AND   ILLUSTRATIONS.  241 

description  of  many  authors,  from  a  sudden  fit  of  frantic  enthu- 
siasm, but  were  gradually  formed;  so  that  the  universal  concourse 
to  the  standard  of  the  cross,  when  erected  by  Urban  II.,  will 
appear  less  surprising. 

If  the  various  circumstances  which  I  have  enumerated  in  this 
note,  as  well  as  in  the  history,  are  sufficient  to  account  for  the 
ardor  with  which  such  vast  numbers  engaged  in  such  a  dangerous 
undertaking,  the  extensive  privileges  and  immunities  granted  to 
the  persons  who  assumed  the  cross  serve  to  account  for  the  long 
continuance  of  this  spirit  in  Europe.  I.  They  were  exempted 
from  prosecutions  on  account  of  debt  during  the  time  of  their 
being  engaged  in  this  holy  service.  (Du  Cange,  voc.  Crucis 
Privilegium,  vol.  ii.  p.  1194.)  2.  They  were  exempted  from 
paying  interest  for  the  money  which  they  had  borrowed  in  order 
to  fit  them  for  this  sacred  warfare.  (Ibid.)  3.  They  were  ex- 
empted either  entirely,  or  at  least  during  a  certain  time,  from  the 
payment  of  taxes.  (Ibid. ;  Ordonnances  des  Rois  de  France,  torn. 
i-  P-  33-)  4-  They  might  alienate  their  lands  without  the  consent 
of  the  superior  lord  of  whom  they  held.  (Ibid.)  5.  Their  per- 
sons and  effects  were  taken  under  the  protection  of  St.  Peter,  and 
the  anathemas  of  the  Church  were  denounced  against  all  who 
should  molest  them,  or  carry  on  any  quarrel  or  hostility  against 
them,  during  their  absence  on  account  of  the  holy  war.  (Du 
Cange,  ibid. ;  Guibertus  Abbas,  ap.  Bongars.,  vol.  i.  pp.  480,  482.) 
6.  They  enjoyed  all  the  privileges  of  ecclesiastics,  and  were  not 
bound  to  plead  in  any  civil  court,  but  were  declared  subject  to  the 
spiritual  jurisdiction  alone.  (Du  Cange,  ibid.;  Ordon.  des  Rois, 
torn.  i.  pp.  34, 174.)  7.  They  obtained  a  plenary  remission  of  all 
their  sins,  and  the  gates  of  heaven  were  set  open  to  them,  without 
requiring  any  other  proof  of  their  penitence  but  their  engaging  in 
this  expedition;  and  thus  by  gratifying  their  favorite  passion,  the 
love  of  war,  they  secured  to  themselves  immunities  which  were 
not  usually  obtained  but  by  paying  large  sums  of  money  or  by 
undergoing  painful  penances.  (Guibertus  Abbas,  p.  480.)  When 
we  behold  the  civil  and  ecclesiastical  powers  vying  with  each 
other  and  straining  their  invention  in  order  to  devise  expedients 
for  encouraging  and  adding  strength  to  the  spirit  of  superstition, 
Charles. — VOL.  I. — L  21 


242  PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

can  we  be  surprised  that  it  should  become  so  general  as  to  render 
it  infamous,  and  a  mark  of  cowardice,  to  decline  engaging  in  the 
holy  war?  (Willerm.  Tyriensis,  ap.  Bongars.,  vol.  ii.  p.  641.) 
The  histories  of  the  crusades  written  by  modern  authors,  who  are 
apt  to  substitute  the  ideas  and  maxims  of  their  own  age  in  the 
place  of  those  which  influenced  the  persons  whose  actions  they 
attempt  to  relate,  convey  a  very  imperfect  notion  of  the  spirit  at 
that  time  predominant  in  Europe.  The  original  historians,  who 
were  animated  themselves  with  the  same  passions  which  possessed 
their  contemporaries,  exhibit  to  us  a  more  striking  picture  of  the 
times  and  manners  which  they  describe.  The  enthusiastic  rapture 
with  which  they  account  for  the  effects  of  the  pope's  discourse  in 
the  Council  of  Clermont,  the  exultation  with  which  they  mention 
the  numbers  who  devoted  themselves  to  this  holy  warfare,  the 
confidence  with  which  they  express  their  reliance  on  the  divine 
protection,  the  ecstasy  of  joy  with  which  they  describe  their 
taking  possession  of  the  holy  city,  will  enable  us  to  conceive  in 
some  degree  the  extravagance  of  that  zeal  which  agitated  the 
minds  of  men  with  such  violence,  and  will  suggest  as  many 
singular  reflections  to  a  philosopher  as  any  occurrence  in  the 
history  of  mankind.  It  is  unnecessary  to  select  the  particular 
passages  in  the  several  historians  which  confirm  this  observation. 
But,  lest  those  authors  may  be  suspected  of  adorning  their  narra- 
tive with  any  exaggerated  description,  I  shall  appeal  to  one  of  the 
leaders  who  conducted  the  enterprise.  There  is  extant  a  letter 
from  Stephen,  the  earl  of  Chartres  and  Blois,  to  Adela  his  wife,  in 
which  he  gives  her  an  account  of  the  progress  of  the  crusaders. 
He  describes  the  crusaders  as  the  chosen  army  of  Christ,  as  the 
servants  and  soldiers  of  God,  as  men  who  marched  under  the 
immediate  protection  of  the  Almighty,  being  conducted  by  his 
hand  to  victory  and  conquest.  He  speaks  of  the  Turks  as  ac- 
cursed, sacrilegious,  and  devoted  by  Heaven  to  destruction ;  and 
when  he  mentions  the  soldiers  in  the  Christian  army  who  had 
died  or  were  killed,  he  is  confident  that  their  souls  were  admitted 
directly  into  the  joys  of  Paradise.  Dacherii  Spicilegium,  vol.  iv. 
p.  257. 

The  expense  of  conducting  numerous  bodies  of  men  from  Europe 


PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


243 


to  Asia  must  have  been  excessive,  and  the  difficulty  of  raising 
the  necessary  sums  must  have  been  proportionally  great,  during 
ages  when  the  public  revenues  in  every  nation  of  Europe  were 
extremely  small.  Some  account  is  preserved  of  the  expedients 
employed  by  Humbert  II.,  Dauphin  of  Vienne,  in  order  to  levy 
the  money  requisite  towards  equipping  him  for  the  crusade,  A.D. 
1346.  These  I  shall  mention,  as  they  tend  to  show  the  consider- 
able influence  which  the  crusades  had  both  on  the  state  of  property 
and  of  civil  government.  I.  He  exposed  to  sale  part  of  his  do- 
mains; and,  as  the  price  was  destined  for  such  a  sacred  service, 
he  obtained  the  consent  of  the  French  king,  of  whom  these  lands 
were  held,  ratifying  the  alienation.  (Hist,  de  Dauphine,  torn.  i. 
pp.  332,  335.)  2.  He  issued  a  proclamation  in  which  he  promised 
to  grant  new  privileges  to  the  nobles,  as  well  as  new  immunities 
to  the  cities  and  towns  in  his  territories,  in  consideration  of  certain 
sums  which  they  were  instantly  to  pay  on  that  account.  (Ibid., 
torn.  ii.  p.  512-)  Many  of  the  charters  of  community,  which  I 
shall  mention  in  another  note,  were  obtained  in  this  manner. 
3.  He  exacted  a  contribution  towards  defraying  the  charges  of  the 
expedition  from  all  his  subjects,  whether  ecclesiastics  or  laymen, 
who  did  not  accompany  him  in  person  to  the  East.  (Ibid.,  torn, 
i.  p.  335.)  4.  He  appropriated  a  considerable  part  of  his  usual 
revenues  for  the  support  of  the  troops  to  be  employed  in  this 
service.  (Ibid.,  torn.  ii.  p.  518.)  5.  He  exacted  considerable  sums, 
not  only  of  the  Jews  settled  in  his  dominions,  but  also  of  the 
Lombards  and  other  bankers  who  had  fixed  their  residence  there. 
(Ibid.,  torn.  i.  p.  338,  torn.  ii.  p.  528.)  Notwithstanding  the  variety 
of  these  resources,  the  dauphin  was  involved  in  such  expense  by 
this  expedition  that  on  his  return  he  was  obliged  to  make  new 
demands  on  his  subjects  and  to  pillage  the  Jews  by  fresh  exactions. 
(Ibid.,  torn.  i.  pp.  344,  347.)  When  the  Count  de  Foix  engaged  in 
the  first  crusade,  he  raised  the  money  necessary  for  defraying  the 
expenses  of  that  expedition  by  alienating  part  of  his  territories. 
(Hist,  de  Langued.,  par  D.  D.  de  Vic  et  Vaisette,  torn.  ii.  p.  287.) 
In  like  manner  Baldwin,  count  of  Hainault,  mortgaged  or  sold  a 
considerable  portion  of  his  dominions  to  the  bishop  of  Liege,  A.D. 
1096.  (Du  Mont,  Corps  Diplomatique,  torn.  i.  p.  59.)  At  a  later 


244 


PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


period,  Baldwin,  count  of  Namur,  sold  part  of  his  estate  to  a 
monastery,  when  he  intended  to  assume  the  cross,  A.D.  1239. 
Miraei  Open,  i.  p.  313. 

NOTE  XIV.— Sect.  I.  p.  32. 

The  usual  method  of  forming  an  opinion  concerning  the  com- 
parative state  of  manners  in  two  different  nations  is  by  attending 
to  the  facts  which  historians  relate  concerning  each  of  them. 
Various  passages  might  be  selected  from  the  Byzantine  historians, 
describing  the  splendor  and  magnificence  of  the  Greek  empire. 
P.  de  Montfaucon  has  produced  from  the  writings  of  St.  Chrys- 
ostom  a  very  full  account  of  the  elegance  and  luxury  of  the  Greeks 
in  his  age.  That  father,  in  his  sermons,  enters  into  such  minute 
details  concerning  the  manners  and  customs  of  his  contemporaries 
as  appear  strange  in  discourses  from  the  pulpit.  P.  de  Montfaucon 
has  collected  these  descriptions  and  ranged  them  under  different 
heads.  The  court  of  the  more  early  Greek  emperors  seems  to 
have  resembled  those  of  Eastern  monarchs,  both  in  magnificence 
and  in  corruption  of  manners.  The  emperors  in  the  eleventh 
century,  though  inferior  in  power,  did  not  yield  to  them  in 
ostentation  and  splendor.  (Memoires  de  1'Acad.  des  Inscript., 
torn.  xx.  p.  197.)  But  we  may  decide  concerning  the  comparative 
state  of  manners  in  the  Eastern  empire,  and  among  the  nations 
in  the  West  of  Europe,  by  another  method,  which  if  not  more 
certain  is  at  least  more  striking.  As  Constantinople  was  the  place 
of  rendezvous  for  all  the  armies  of  the  crusaders,  this  brought 
together  the  people  of  the  East  and  West  as  to  one  great  interview. 
There  are  extant  several  contemporary  authors,  both  among  the 
Greeks  and  Latins,  who  were  witnesses  of  this  singular  congress 
of  people  formerly  strangers  in  a  great  measure  to  each  other. 
They  describe  with  simplicity  and  candor  the  impression  which 
that  new  spectacle  made  upon  their  own  minds.  This  may  be 
considered  as  the  most  lively  and  just  picture  of  the  real  character 
and  manners  of  each  people.  When  the  Greeks  speak  of  the 
Franks,  they  describe  them  as  barbarians,  fierce,  illiterate,  im- 
petuous, and  savage.  They  assume  a  tone  of  superiority,  as  a  more 


PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


245 


polished  people,  acquainted  with  the  arts  both  of  government  and 
of  elegance,  of  which  the  other  was  ignorant.  It  is  thus  Anna 
Comnena  describes  the  manners  of  the  Latins  (Alexias,  pp.  224, 
231,  237,  ap.  Byz.  Script.,  vol.  ix.).  She  always  views  them  with 
contempt  as  a  rude  people,  the  very  mention  of  whose  names  was 
sufficient  to  contaminate  the  beauty  and  elegance  of  history 
(p.  229).  Nicetas  Choniatas  inveighs  against  them  with  still  more 
violence,  and  gives  an  account  of  their  ferocity  and  devastations 
in  terms  not  unlike  those  which  preceding  historians  had  employed 
in  describing  the  incursions  of  the  Goths  and  Vandals.  (Nicet. 
Chon.,  ap.  Byz.  Script.,  vol.  iii.  p.  302,  etc.)  But,  on  the  other 
hand,  the  Latin  historians  were  struck  with  astonishment  at  the 
magnificence,  wealth,  and  elegance  which  they  discovered  in  the 
Eastern  empire.  "  Oh,  what  a  vast  city  is  Constantinople,"  ex- 
claims Fulcherius  Carnotensis  when  he  first  beheld  it,  "  and  how 
beautiful !  How -many  monasteries  are  there  in  it,  and  how  many 
palaces  built  with  wonderful  art !  How  many  manufactures  are 
there  in  the  city  amazing  to  behold !  It  would  be  astonishing  to 
relate  how  it  abounds  with  all  good  things,  with  gold,  silver,  and 
stuffs  of  various  kinds;  for  every  hour  ships  arrive  in  its  port 
laden  with  all  things  necessary  for  the  use  of  man."  (Fulcher., 
ap.  Bongars.,  vol.  i.  p.  386.)  Willermus,  archbishop  of  Tyre,  the 
most  intelligent  historian  of  the  crusades,  seems  to  be  fond,  on 
every  occasion,  of  describing  the  elegance  and  splendor  of  the 
court  of  Constantinople,  and  adds  that  what  he  and  his  countrymen 
observed  there  exceeded  any  idea  which  they  could  have  formed 
of  it,  "  nostrarum  enim  rerum  modum  et  dignitatem  excedunt." 
(Willerm.  Tyr.,  ap.  Bong.,  vol.  ii.  pp.  657,  664.)  Benjamin  the 
Jew,  of  Tudela  in  Navarre,  who  began  his  travels  A.D.  1173,  ap- 
pears to  have  been  equally  astonished  at  the  magnificence  of  that 
city,  and  gives  a- description  of  its  splendor  in  terms  of  high 
admiration.  (Benj.  Tudel.,  ap.  Les  Voyages  faits  dans  les  I2e, 
I3e,  etc.  Siecles,  par  Bergeron,  p.  10,  etc.)  Guntherus,  a  French 
monk,  who  wrote  a  history  of  the  conquest  of  Constantinople  by 
the  crusaders  in  the  thirteenth  century,  speaks  of  the  magnificence 
of  that  city  in  the  same  tone  of  admiration :  "  Structuram  autem 
sedificiorum  in  corpore  civitatis,  in  ecclesiis  videlicet,  et  turribus, 

21* 


246  PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

et  in  domibus  magnatorum,  vix  ullus  vel  describere  potest,  vel 
credere  describenti,  nisi  qui  ea  oculata  fide  cognoverit."  (Hist. 
Constantinop.,  ap.  Canisii  Lectiones  Antiquas,  fol.,  Antw.,  1725, 
vol.  iv.  p.  14.)  Geoffrey  de  Villehardouin,  a  nobleman  of  high 
rank,  and  accustomed  to  all  the  magnificence  then  known  in  the 
West,  describes  in  similar  terms  the  astonishment  and  admiration 
of  such  of  his  fellow-soldiers  as  beheld  Constantinople  for  the  first 
time.  "  They  could  not  have  believed,"  says  he,  "  that  there  was 
a  city  so  beautiful  and  so  rich  in  the  whole  world.  When  they 
viewed  its  high  walls,  its  lofty  towers,  its  rich  palaces,  its  superb 
churches,  all  appeared  so  great  that  they  could  have  formed  no 
conception  of  this  sovereign  city  unless  they  had  seen  it  with  their 
own  eyes."  (Histoire  de  la  Conquete  de  Constantinople,  p.  49.) 
From  these  undisguised  representations  of  their  own  feelings  it  is 
evident  that  to  the  Greeks  the  crusaders  appeared  to  be  a  race  of 
rude,  unpolished  barbarians;  whereas  the  latter,  how  much  soever 
they  might  contemn  the  unwarlike  character  of  the  former,  could 
not  help  regarding  them  as  far  superior  to  themselves  in  elegance 
and  arts.  That  the  state  of  government  and  manners  was  much 
more  improved  in  Italy  than  in  the  other  countries  of  Europe  is 
evident  not  only  from  the  facts  recorded  in  history,  but  it  appears 
that  the  more  intelligent  leaders  of  the  crusaders  were  struck  with 
the  difference.  Jacobus  de  Vitriaco,  a  French  historian  of  the  holy 
war,  makes  an  elaborate  panegyric  on  the  character  and  manners 
of  the  Italians.  He  views  them  as  a  more  polished  people,  and 
particularly  celebrates  them  for  their  love  of  liberty,  and  civil 
wisdom :  "  in  consiliis  circumspect!,  in  re  sua  publicfl.  procuranda 
diligentes  et  studiosi;  sibi  in  posterum  providentes;  aliis  subjici 
renuentes ;  ante  omnia  libertatem  sibi  defendentes ;  sub  uno  quern 
eligunt  capitaneo,  communitati  suse  jura  et  instituta  dictantes  et 
similiter  observantes."  Histor.  Hierosol.,  ap.  Gesta  Dei  per  Fran- 
cos, vol.  ii.  p.  1085. 

NOTE  XV.— Sect.  I.  p.  37. 

The  different  steps  taken  by  the  cities  of  Italy  in  order  to  ex- 
tend their  power  and  dominions  are  remarkable.   As  soon  as  their 


PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS.  247 

liberties  were  established  and  they  began  to  feel  their  own  impor- 
tance, they  endeavored  to  render  themselves  masters  of  the  terri- 
tory round  their  walls.  Under  the  Romans,  when  cities  enjoyed 
municipal  privileges  and  jurisdiction,  the  circumjacent  lands  be- 
longed to  each  town  and  were  the  property  of  the  community. 
But,  as  it  was  not  the  genius  of  the  feudal  policy  to  encourage 
cities  or  to  show  any  regard  for  their  possessions  and  immunities, 
these  lands  had  been  seized  and  shared  among  the  conquerors. 
The  barons  to  whom  they  were  granted  erected  their  castles  almost 
at  the  gates  of  the  city,  and  exercised  their  jurisdiction  there. 
Under  pretence  of  recovering  their  ancient  property,  many  of  the 
cities  in  Italy  attacked  these  troublesome  neighbors,  and,  dispos- 
sessing them,  annexed  their  territories  to  the  communities,  and 
made  thereby  a  considerable  addition  to  their  power.  Several 
instances  of  this  occur  in  the  eleventh  and  beginning  of  the 
twelfth  centuries.  (Murat.,  Antiq.  Ital.,  vol.  iv.  p.  159,  etc.) 
Their  ambition  increasing  together  with  their  power,  the  cities 
afterwards  attacked  several  barons  situated  at  a  greater  distance 
from  their  walls,  and  obliged  them  to  engage  that  they  would 
become  members  of  their  community;  that  they  would  take  the 
oath  of  fidelity  to  their  magistrates;  that  they  would  subject  their 
lands  to  all  burdens  and  taxes  imposed  by  common  consent ;  that 
they  would  defend  the  community  against  all  its  enemies ;  and 
that  they  would  reside  within  the  city  during  a  certain  specified 
time  in  each  year.  (Murat.,  ibid.,  p.  163.)  This  subjection  of 
the  nobility  to  the  municipal  government  established  in  cities  be- 
came almost  universal,  and  was  often  extremely  grievous  to  persons 
accustomed  to  consider  themselves  as  independent.  Otto  Frisin- 
gensis  thus  describes  the  state  of  Italy  under  Frederic  I. :  "  The 
cities  so  much  affect  liberty,  and  are  so  solicitous  to  avoid  the  in- 
solence of  power,  that  almost  all  of  them  have  thrown  off  every 
other  authority  and  are  governed  by  their  own  magistrates.  In- 
somuch that  all  that  country  is  now  filled  with  free  cities,  most 
of  which  have  compelled  their  bishops  to  reside  within  their  walls, 
and  there  is  scarcely  any  nobleman,  how  great  soever  his  power 
may  be,  who  is  not  subject  to  the  laws  and  government  of  some 
city."  (De  Gestis  Frider.  I.  Imp.,  lib.  ii.  c.  13,  p.  453.)  In  an- 


248  PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

other  place  he  observes  of  the  marquis  of  Montferrat  that  he  was 
almost  the  only  Italian  baron  who  had  preserved  his  independence 
and  had  not  become  subject  to  the  laws  of  any  city.  (See  also 
Muratori,  Antichita  Estensi,  vol.  i.  pp.  411,  412.)  That  state  into 
which  some  of  the  nobles  were  compelled  to  enter,  others  em- 
braced from  choice.  They  observed  the  high  degree  of  security, 
as  well  as  of  credit  and  estimation,  which  the  growing  wealth  and 
dominion  of  the  great  communities  procured  to  all  the  members 
of  them.  They  were  desirous  to  partake  of  these  and  to  put  them- 
selves under  such  powerful  protection.  With  this  view  they  vol- 
untarily became  citizens  of  the  towns  to  which  their  lands  were 
mosj  contiguous,  and,  abandoning  their  ancient  castles,  took  up 
their  residence  in  the  cities,  at  least  during  part  of  the  year. 
Several  deeds  are  still  extant  by  which  some  of  the  most  illus- 
trious families  in  Italy  are  associated  as  citizens  of  different  cities. 
(Murat.,  ibid.,  p.  165,  etc.)  A  charter  by  which  Atto  de  Macerata 
is  admitted  as  a  citizen  of  Osima,  A.D.  1198,  in  the  Marcha  di 
Ancona,  is  still  extant.  In  this  he  stipulates  that  he  will  acknowl- 
edge himself  to  be  a  burgess  of  that  community ;  that  he  will  to 
the  utmost  of  his  power  promote  its  honor  and  welfare ;  that  he 
will  obey  its  magistrates ;  that  he  will  enter  into  no  league  with 
its  enemies ;  that  he  will  reside  in  the  town  during  two  months  in 
every  year,  or  for  a  longer  time,  if  required  by  the  magistrates. 
The  community,  on  the  other  hand,  take  him,  his  family,  and 
friends,  under  their  protection,  and  engage  to  -defend  him  against 
every  enemy.  (Fr.  Ant.  Zacharias,  Anecdota  Medii  ^Evi,  Aug. 
Taur.,  1755,  fol.,  p.  66.)  This  privilege  was  deemed  so  important 
that  not  only  laymen,  but  ecclesiastics  of  the  highest  rank,  con- 
descended to  be  adopted  as  members  of  the  great  communities,  in 
hopes  of  enjoying  the  safety  and  dignity  which  that  condition  con- 
ferred. (Murat.,  ibid.,  p.  179.)  Before  the  institution  of  com- 
munities, persons  of  noble  birth  had  no  other  residence  but  their 
castles.  They  kept  their  petty  courts  there ;  and  the  cities  were 
deserted,  having  hardly  any  inhabitants  but  slaves  or  persons  of 
low  condition.  But,  in  consequence  of  the  practice  which  I  have 
mentioned,  cities  not  only  became  more  populous,  but  were  filled 
with  inhabitants  of  better  rank,  and  a  custom  which  still  subsists 


PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS.  249 

in  Italy  was  then  introduced,  that  all  families  of  distinction  reside 
more  constantly  in  the  great  towns  than  is  usual  in  other  parts  of 
Europe.  As  cities  acquired  new  consideration  and  dignity  by  the 
accession  of  such  citizens,  they  became  more  solicitous  to  preserve 
their  liberty  and  independence.  The  emperors,  as  sovereigns,  had 
anciently  a  palace  in  almost  every  great  city  of  Italy :  when  they 
visited  that  country,  they  were  accustomed  to  reside  in  these 
palaces,  and  the  troops  which  accompanied  them  were  quartered 
in  the  houses  of  the  citizens.  This  the  citizens  deemed  both 
ignominious  and  dangerous.  They  could  not  help  considering  it 
as  receiving  a  master  and  an  enemy  within  their  walls.  They 
labored,  therefore,  to  get  free  of  this  subjection.  Some  cities  pre- 
vailed on  the  emperors  to  engage  that  they  would  never  enter 
their  gates,  but  take  up  their  residence  without  the  walls.  (Chart. 
Hen.  IV.,  Murat.,  ibid.,  p.  24.)  Others  obtained  the  imperial 
license  to  pull  down  the  palace  situated  within  their  liberties,  on 
condition  that  they  built  another  in  the  suburbs  for  the  occasional 
reception  of  the  emperor.  (Chart.  Hen.  IV.,  Murat.,  ibid.,  p.  25.) 
These  various  encroachments  of  the  Italian  cities  alarmed  the 
emperors,  and  put  them  on  schemes  for  re-establishing  the  imperial 
jurisdiction  over  them  on  its  ancient  footing.  Frederic  Barbarossa 
engaged  in  this  enterprise  with  great  ardor.  The  free  cities  of 
Italy  joined  together  in  a  general  league,  and  stood  on  their  de- 
fence ;  and  after  a  long  contest,  carried  on  with  alternate  success, 
a  solemn  treaty  of  peace  was  concluded  at  Constance,  A.D.  1183, 
by  which  all  the  privileges  and  immunities  granted  by  former 
emperors  to  the  principal  cities  in  Italy  were  confirmed  and  rati- 
fied. (Murat.,  Dissert.  XLVIII.)  This  treaty  of  Constance  was 
considered  as  such  an  important  article  in  the  jurisprudence  of 
the  Middle  Ages  that  it  is  usually  published  together  with  the 
Libri  Feudorum  at  the  end  of  the  Corpus  Juris  Civilis.  The 
treaty  secured  privileges  of  great  importance  to  the  confederate 
cities,  and  though  it  reserved  a  considerable  degree  of  authority 
and  jurisdiction  to  the  empire,  yet  the  cities  persevered  with  such 
vigor  in  their  efforts  in  order  to  extend  their  immunities,  and  the 
conjunctures  in  which  they  made  them  were  so  favorable,  that 
before  the  conclusion  of  the  thirteenth  century  most  of  the  great 


250 


PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


cities  in  Italy  had  shaken  off  all  marks  of  subjection  to  the  em- 
pire and  were  become  independent  sovereign  republics.  It  is  not 
requisite  that  I  should  trace  the  various  steps  by  which  they  ad- 
vanced to  this  high  degree  of  power,  so  fatal  to  the  empire  and 
so  beneficial  to  the  cause  of  liberty  in  Italy.  Muratori,  with  his 
usual  industry,  has  collected  many  original  papers  which  illustrate 
this  curious  and  little  known  part  of  history.  Murat.,  Antiq.  Ital., 
Dissert.  L.  See  also  Jo.  Bapt.  Villanovse  Hist.  Laudis  Pompeii 
sive  Lodi,  in  Grsev.  Thes.  Antiquit.  Ital.,  vol.  iii.  p.  888. 

NOTE  XVI.— Sect.  I.  p.  38. 

<• 
Long  before  the  institution  of  communities  in  France,  charters 

of  immunity  or  franchise  were  granted  to  some  towns  and  villages 
by  the  lords  on  whom  they  depended.  But  these  are  very  differ- 
ent from  such  as  became  common  in  the  twelfth  and  thirteenth 
centuries.  They  did  not  erect  these  towns  into  corporations ;  they 
did  not  establish  a  municipal  government ;  they  did  not  grant  them 
the  privilege  of  bearing  arms.  They  contained  nothing  more  than 
a  manumission  of  the  inhabitants  from  the  yoke  of  servitude ;  an 
exemption  from  certain  services  which  were  oppressive  and  igno- 
minious ;  and  the  establishment  of  a  fixed  tax  or  rent  which  the 
citizens  were  to  pay  to  their  lord  in  place  of  impositions  which  he 
could  formerly  lay  upon  them  at  pleasure.  Two  charters  of  this 
kind  to  two  villages  in  the  county  of  Roussillon,  one  in  A.D.  974, 
the  other  in  A.D.  1025,  are  still  extant.  (Petr.  de  Marca,  Marca, 
sive  Limes  Hispanicus,  App.,  pp.  909,  1038.)  Such  concessions, 
it  is  probable,  were  not  unknown  in  other  parts  of  Europe,  and 
may  be  considered  as  a  step  towards  the  more  extensive  privileges 
conferred  by  Louis  le  Gros  on  the  towns  within  his  domains.  The 
communities  in  France  never  aspired  to  the  same  independence 
with  those  in  Italy.  They  acquired  new  privileges  and  immuni- 
ties, but  the  right  of  sovereignty  remained  entire  to  the  king  or 
baron  within  whose  territories  the  respective  cities  were  situated 
and  from  whom  they  received  the  charter  of  their  freedom.  A 
great  number  of  these  charters,  granted  both  by  the  kings  of 
France  and  by  their  great  vassals,  are  published  by  M.  d'Achery 


PROOFS  AND   ILLUSTRATIONS. 


251 


in  his  Spicilegium,  and  many  are  found  in  the  collection  of  the 
Ordonnances  des  Rois  de  France.  These  convey  a  very  striking 
representation  of  the  wretched  condition  of  cities  previous  to  the 
institution  of  communities,  when  they  were  subject  to  the  judges 
appointed  by  the  superior  lords  of  whom  they  held,  and  who  had 
scarcely  any  other  law  but  their  will.  Each  concession  in  these 
charters  must  be  considered  as  a  grant  of  some  new  privileges 
which  the  people  did  not  formerly  enjoy,  and  each  regulation  as 
a  method  of  redressing  some  grievance  under  which  the  inhabit- 
ants of  cities  formerly  labored.  The  charters  of  communities 
contain  likewise  the  first  expedients  employed  for  the  introduc- 
tion of  equal  laws  and  regular  government.  On  both  these  ac- 
counts they  merit  particular  attention,  and  therefore,  instead  of 
referring  my  readers  to  the  many  bulky  volumes  in  which  they 
are  scattered,  I  shall  give  them  a  view  of  some  of  the  most  im- 
portant articles  in  these  charters,  ranged  under  two  general  heads. 
I.  Such  as  respect  personal  safety.  II.  Such  as  respect  the  security 
of  property. 

I.  During  that  state  of  turbulence  and  disorder  which  the  cor- 
ruption of  the  feudal  government  introduced  into  Europe,  personal 
safety  was  the  first  and  great  object  of  every  individual ;  and,  as 
the  great  military  barons  alone  were  able  to  give  sufficient  protec- 
tion to  their  vassals,  this  was  one  great  source  of  their  power  and 
authority.  But  by  the  institution  of  communities  effectual  pro- 
vision was  made  for  the  safety  of  individuals,  independent  of  the 
nobles.  For,  i.  The  fundamental  article  in  every  charter  was 
that  all  the  members  of  the  community  bound  themselves  by  oath 
to  assist,  defend,  and  stand  by  each  other  against  all  aggressors,  and 
that  they  should  not  suffer  any  person  to  injure,  distress,  or  molest 
any  of  their  fellow-citizens.  (D'Acher.,  Spicil.,  x.  642,  xi.  341, 
etc.)  2.  Whoever  resided  in  any  town  which  was  made  free  was 
obliged,  under  a  severe  penalty,  to  accede  to  the  community  and 
to  take  part  in  the  mutual  defence  of  its  members.  (D'Acher., 
Spicil.,  xi.  344.)  3.  The  communities  had  the  privilege  of  carry- 
ing arms;  of  making  war  on  their  private  enemies;  and  of 
executing  by  military  force  any  sentence  which  their  magistrates 
pronounced.  (D'Acher.,  Spicil.,  x.  643,  644,  xi.  343.)  4.  The 


252  PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

practice  of  making  satisfaction  by  a  pecuniary  compensation  for 
murder,  assault,  or  other  acts  of  violence,  most  inconsistent  with 
the  order  of  society  and  the  safety  of  individuals,  was  abol- 
ished; and  such  as  committed  these  crimes  were  punished  capitally, 
or  with  rigor  adequate  to  their  guilt.  (D'Ach.,  xi.  362;  Mirsei 
Opera  Diplomatica,  i.  292.)  5.  No  member  of  a  community  was 
bound  to  justify  or  defend  himself  by  battle  or  combat;  but  if  he 
was  charged  with  any  crime  he  could  be  convicted  only  by  the 
evidence  of  witnesses  and  the  regular  course  of  legal  proceedings. 
(Miraeus,  ibid.;  D'Ach.,  xi.  375,  349;  Ordon.,  torn.  iii.  p.  265.) 
6.  If  any  man  suspected  himself  to  be  in  danger  from  the  malice 
or  enmity  of  another,  upon  his  making  oath  to  that  effect  before 
a  magistrate  the  person  suspected  was  bound  under  a  severe  penalty 
to  give  security  for  his  peaceable  behavior.  (D'Ach.,  xi.  346.) 
This  is  the  same  species  of  security  which  is  still  known  in  Scot- 
land under  the  name  of  law  burrows.  In  France  it  was  first 
introduced  among  the  inhabitants  of  communities,  and,  having 
been  found  to  contribute  considerably  towards  personal  safety,  it 
was  extended  to  all  the  other  members  of  the  society.  Etablisse- 
mens  de  St.  Louis,  liv.  i.  cap.  28,  ap.  Du  Cange,  Vie  de  St.  Louis, 

P-  IS- 

II.  The  provisions  in  the  charters  of  communities  concerning 
the  security  of  property  are  not  less  considerable  than  those 
respecting  personal  safety.  By  the  ancient  law  of  France,  no 
person  could  be  arrested  or  confined  in  prison  on  account  of  any 
private  debt.  (Ordon.  des  Rois  de  France,  torn.  i.  pp.  72,  80.) 
If  any  person  was  arrested  upon  any  pretext  but  his  having  been 
guilty  of  a  capital  crime,  it  was  lawful  to  rescue  him  out  of  the 
hands  of  the  officers  who  had  seized  him.  (Ordon.,  torn.  iii.  p. 
17.)  Freedom  from  arrest  on  account  of  debt  seems  likewise  to 
have  been  enjoyed  in  other  countries.  (Gudenus,  Sylloge  Diplom., 
473.)  In  society,  while  it  remained  in  its  rudest  and  most  simple 
form,  debt  seems  to  have  been  considered  as  an  obligation  merely 
personal.  Men  had  made  some  progress  towards  refinement 
before  creditors  acquired  a  right  of  seizing  the  property  of  their 
debtors  in  order  to  recover  payment.  The  expedients  for  this 
purpose  were  all  introduced  originally  in  communities,  and  we 


PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


253 


can  trace  the  gradual  progress  of  them.  I.  The  simplest  and 
most  obvious  species  of  security  was  that  the  person  who  sold  any 
commodity  should  receive  a  pledge  from  him  who  bought  it,  which 
he  restored  upon  receiving  payment.  Of  this  custom  there  are 
vestiges  in  several  charters  of  community.  (D'Ach.,  ix.  185,  xi. 
377.)  2.  When  no  pledge  was  given,  and  the  debtor  became 
refractory  or  insolvent,  the  creditor  was  allowed  to  seize  his  effects 
with  a  strong  hand  and  by  his  private  authority :  the  citizens  of 
Paris  are  warranted  by  the  royal  mandate,  "  ut  ubicumque,  et 
quocumque  modo  poterunt,  tantum  capiant,  unde  pecuniam  sibi 
debitam  integre  et  plenarie  habeant,  et  inde  sibi  invicem  adjutores 
existant."  (Ordon.,  etc.,  torn.  i.  p.  6.)  This  rude  practice,  suit- 
able only  to  the  violence  of  that  which  has  been  called  a  state  of 
nature,  was  tolerated  longer  than  one  can  conceive  to  be  possible 
in  any  society  where  laws  and  order  were  at  all  known.  The 
ordinance  authorizing  it  was  issued  A.D.  1134;  and  that  which 
corrects  the  law,  and  prohibits  creditors  from  seizing  the  effects  of 
their  debtors  unless  by  a  warrant  from  a  magistrate  and  under  his 
inspection,  was  not  published  until  the  year  1351.  (Ordon.,  torn. 
ii.  p.  438.)  It  is  probable,  however,  that  men  were  taught,  by 
observing  the  disorders  which  the  former  mode  of  proceeding 
occasioned,  to  correct  it  in  practice  long  before  a  remedy  was 
provided  by  a  law  to  that  effect.  Every  discerning  reader  will 
apply  this  observation  to  many  other  customs  and  practices  which 
I  have  mentioned.  New  customs  are  not  always  to  be  ascribed  to 
the  laws  which  authorize  them.  Those  statutes  only  give  a  legal 
sanction  to  such  things  as  the  experience  of  mankind  has  pre- 
viously found  to  be  proper  and  beneficial.  3.  As  soon  as  the 
interposition  of  the  magistrate  became  requisite,  regular  provision 
was  made  for  attaching  or  distraining  the  movable  effects  of  a 
debtor;  and  if  his  movables  were  not  sufficient  to  discharge  the 
debt,  his  immovable  property,  or  estate  in  land,  was  liable  to  the 
same  distress,  and  was  sold  for  the  benefit  of  his  creditor.  (D'Ach., 
ix.  184,  185,  xi.  348,  380.)  As  this  regulation  afforded  the  most 
complete  security  to  the  creditor,  it  was  considered  as  so  severe 
that  humanity  pointed  out  several  limitations  in  the  execution  of 
it.  Creditors  were  prohibited  from  seizing  the  wearing-apparel  of 
Charles. — Vol.  I.  22 


254  PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

their  debtors,  their  beds,  the  door  of  their  house,  their  instruments 
of  husbandry,  etc.  (D'Ach.,  ix.  184,  xi.  377.)  Upon  the  same 
principles,  when  the  power  of  distraining  effects  became  more 
general,  the  horse  and  arms  of  a  gentleman  could  not  be  seized. 
(D'Ach.,  ix.  185.)  As  hunting  was  the  favorite  amusement  of 
martial  IK  bles,  the  emperor  Ludovicus  Pius  prohibited  the  seizing 
of  a  hawk  on  account  of  any  composition  or  debt.  (Capitul.,  lib. 
iv.  $  21.)  But,  if  the  debtor  had  no  other  movables,  even  these 
privileged  articles  might  be  seized.  4.  In  order  to  render  the 
security  of  property  complete  within  a  community,  every  person 
who  was  admitted  a  member  of  it  was  obliged  to  buy  or  build  a 
house,  or  to  purchase  lands  within  its  precincts,  or  at  least  to 
bring  into  the  town  a  considerable  portion  of  his  movables,  per 
quiz  justiciari  possit,  si  quid  fortt  in  eum  querela  evenerit. 
(D'Ach.,  xi.  326;  Ordon.,  torn,  i.p.  367;  Libertates  S.  Georgii  de 
Esperanchia,  Hist,  de  Dauphine,  torn.  i.  p.  26.)  5.  That  security 
might  be  as  perfect  as  possible,  in  some  towns  the  members  of  the 
community  seem  to  have  been  bound  for  each  other.  (D'Ach., 
x.  644.)  6.  All  questions  with  respect  to  property  were  tried 
within  the  community,  by  magistrates  and  judges  whom  the  citi- 
zens elected  or  appointed.  Their  decisions  were  more  equal  and 
fixed  than  the  sentences  which  depended  on  the  capricious  and 
arbitrary  will  of  a  baron,  who  thought  himself  superior  to  all 
laws.  (D'Ach.,  x.  644,  646,  xi.  344,  et  passim;  Ordon.,  torn.  iii. 
p.  204.)  7.  No  member  of  a  community  could  be  burdened  by 
any  arbitrary  tax ;  for  the  superior  lord,  who  granted  the  charter 
of  community,  accepted  of  a  fixed  census  or  duty  in  lieu  of  all 
demands.  (Ordon.,  torn.  iii.  p.  204;  Libertates  de  Calma,  Hist, 
de  Dauphine,  torn.  i.  p.  19;  Libertates  S.  Georgii  de  Esperanchia, 
ibid.,  p.  26.)  Nor  could  the  members  of  a  community  be  dis- 
tressed by  an  unequal  imposition  of  the  sum  to  be  levied  on  the 
community.  Regulations  are  inserted  in  the  charters  of  some 
communities  concerning  the  method  of  determining  the  quota  of 
any  tax  to  be  levied  on  each  inhabitant.  (D'Ach.,  xi.  350,  365.) 
St.  Louis  published  an  ordinance  concerning  this  matter,  which 
extended  to  all  the  communities.  (Ordon.,  torn.  i.  p.  186.)  These 
regulations  are  extremely  favorable  to  liberty,  as  they  vest  the 


PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS.  255 

power  of  proportioning  the  taxes  in  a  certain  number  of  citizens 
chosen  out  of  each  parish,  who  were  bound  by  solemn  oath  to 
decide  according  to  justice.  That  the  more  perfect  security  of 
property  was  one  great  object  of  those  who  instituted  communities, 
we  learn  not  only  from  the  nature  of  the  thing,  but  from  the  ex- 
press words  of  several  charters,  of  which  I  shall  only  mention  that 
granted  by  Alienor,  queen  of  England  and  duchess  of  Guienne, 
to  the  community  of  Poitiers,  "  ut  sua  propria  meliiis  defendere 
possint,  et  magis  integre  custodire."  (Du  Cange,  voc.  Communia, 
vol.  ii.  p.  863.)  Such  are  some  of  the  capital  regulations  estab- 
blished  in  communities  during  the  twelfth  and  thirteenth  centuries. 
These  may  be  considered  as  the  first  expedients  for  the  re-estab- 
lishment of  law  and  order,  and  contributed  greatly  to  introduce 
regular  government  among  all  the  members  of  so'ciety.  As  soon 
as  communities  were  instituted,  high  sentiments  of  liberty  began 
to  manifest  themselves.  When  Humbert,  lord  of  Beaujeu,  upon 
granting  a  charter  of  community  to  the  town  of  Belleville,  exacted 
of  the  inhabitants  an  oath  of  fidelity  to  himself  and  successors, 
they  stipulated,  on  their  part,  that  he  should  swear  to  maintain 
their  franchises  and  liberties ;  and,  for  their  greater  security,  they 
obliged  him  to  bring  twenty  gentlemen  to  take  the  same  oath  and 
to  be  bound  together  with  him.  (D'Ach.,  ix.  183.)  In  the  same 
manner,  the  lord  of  Moriens  in  Dauphine  produced  a  certain 
number  of  persons  as  his  sureties  for  the  observation  of  the  articles 
contained  in  the  charter  of  community  to  that  town.  These  were 
bound  to  surrender  themselves  prisoners  to  the  inhabitants  of 
Moriens  if  their  liege-lord  should  violate  any  of  their  franchises, 
and  they  promised  to  remain  in  custody  until  he  should  grant  the 
members  of  the  community  redress.  (Hist,  de  Dauphine,  torn.  i. 
p.  17.)  If  the  mayor  or  chief  magistrate  of  a  town  did  any 
injury  to  a  citizen,  he  was  obliged  to  give  security  for  his  appear- 
ance in  judgment,  in  the  same  manner  as  a  private  person,  and, 
if  cast,  was  liable  to  the  same  penalty.  (D'Ach.,  ix.  183.)  These 
are  ideas  of  equality  uncommon  in  the  feudal  times.  Communities 
were  so  favorable  to  freedom  that  they  were  distinguished  by  the 
name  of  libertates.  (Du  Cange,  vol.  ii.  p.  863.)  They  were  at 
first  extremely  odious  to  the  nobles,  who  foresaw  what  a  check 


256  PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

they  must  prove  to  their  power  and  domination.  Guibert,  abbot 
of  Nogent,  calls  them  execrable  inventions,  by  which,  contrary  to 
law  and  justice,  slaves  withdrew  themselves  from  that  obedience 
which  they  owed  to  their  masters.  (Du  Cange,  ibid.,  p.  862.) 
The  zeal  with  which  some  of  the  nobles  and  powerful  ecclesiastics 
opposed  the  establishment  of  communities  and  endeavored  to 
circumscribe  their  privileges  was  extraordinary.  A  striking  in- 
stance of  this  occurs  in  the  contests  between  the  archbishop  of 
Rheims  and  the  inhabitants  of  that  community.  It  was  the  chief 
business  of  every  archbishop,  during  a  considerable  time,  to  abridge 
the  rights  and  jurisdiction  of  the  community;  and  the  great  object 
of  pie  citizens,  especially  when  the  see  was  vacant,  to  maintain,  to 
recover,  and  to  extend  their  own  jurisdiction.  Histoire  civile  et 
politique  de  la  Ville  de  Reims,  par  M.  Anquetil,  torn.  i.  p.  287,  etc. 
The  observations  which  I  have  made  concerning  the  low  state 
of  cities,  and  the  condition  of  their  inhabitants,  are  confirmed  by 
innumerable  passages  in  the  historians  and  laws  of  the  Middle 
Ages.  It  is  not  improbable,  however,  that  some  cities  of  the  first 
order  were  in  a  better  state  and  enjoyed  a  superior  degree  of 
liberty.  Under  the  Roman  government  the  municipal  government 
established  in  cities  was  extremely  favorable  to  liberty.  The  juris- 
diction of  the  senate  in  each  corporation,  and  the  privileges  of  the 
citizens,  were  both  extensive.  There  is  reason  to  believe  that 
some  of  the  greater  cities,  which  escaped  the  destructive  rage  of 
the  barbarous  nations,  still  retained  their  ancient  form  of  govern- 
ment, at  least  in  a  great  measure.  They  were  governed  by  a 
council  of  citizens,  and  by  magistrates  whom  they  themselves 
elected.  Very  strong  presumptions  in  favor  of  this  opinion  are 
produced  by  M.  1'Abbe  de  Bos,  Hist.  crit.  de  la  Mon.  Franc., 
torn.  i.  p.  18,  etc.,  torn.  ii.  p.  524,  edit.  1742.  It  appears  from 
some  of  the  charters  of  community  to  cities,  granted  in  the  twelfth 
and  thirteenth  centuries,  that  these  only  confirm  the  privileges 
possessed  by  the  inhabitants  previous  to  the  establishment  of  the 
community.  (D'Acher.,  Spicileg.,  vol.  xi.  p.  345.)  Other  cities 
claimed  their  privileges,  as  having  possessed  them  without  inter- 
ruption from  the  times  of  the  Romans.  (Hist.  crit.  de  la  Mon. 
Fran9.,  torn.  ii.  p.  333.)  But  the  number  of  cities  which  enjoyed 


PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


257 


such  immunities  was  so  small  as  hardly  in  any  degree  to  diminish 
the  force  of  my  conclusions  in  the  text. 

NOTE  XVII.— Sect.  I.  p.  38. 

Having  given  a  full  account  of  the  establishment,  as  well  as 
effects,  of  communities  in  Italy  and  France,  it  will  be  necessary 
to  inquire  with  some  attention  into  the  progress  of  cities  and  of 
municipal  government  in  Germany.  The  ancient  Germans  had 
no  cities.  Even  in  their  hamlets  or  villages  they  did  not  build 
their  houses  contiguous  to  each  other.  (Tacit.,  de  Mor.  Germ., 
cap.  1 6.)  They  considered  it  as  a  badge  of  servitude  to  be 
obliged  to  dwell  in  a  city  surrounded  with  walls.  When  one  of 
their  tribes  had  shaken  off  the  Roman  yoke,  their  countrymen 
required  of  them,  as  an  evidence  of  their  having  recovered  liberty, 
to  demolish  the  walls  of  a  town  which  the  Romans  had  built  in 
their  country.  Even  the  fiercest  animals,  said  they,  lose  their 
spirit  and  courage  when  they  are  confined.  (Tacit.,  Histor.,  lib. 
iv.  c.  64.)  The  Romans  built  several  cities  of  note  on  the  banks 
of  the  Rhine.  But  in  all  the  vast  countries  from  that  river  to  the 
coasts  of  the  Baltic  there  was  hardly  one  city  previous  to  the  ninth 
century  of  the  Christian  era.  (Conringius,  Exercitatio  de  Urbibus 
Germanise,  Oper.,  vol.  i.  \\  25,  27,  31,  etc.)  Heineccius  differs 
from  Conringius  with  respect  to  this.  But,  even  after  allowing  to 
his  arguments  and  authorities  their  utmost  force,  they  prove  only 
that  there  were  a  few  places  in  those  extensive  regions  on  which 
some  historians  have  bestowed  the  name  of  towns.  (Elem.  Jur. 
German.,  lib.  i.  \  102.)  Under  Charlemagne  and  the  emperors 
of  his  family,  as  the  political  state  of  Germany  began  to  improve, 
several  cities  were  founded,  and  men  became  accustomed  to  asso- 
ciate and  to  live  together  in  one  place.  Charlemagne  founded 
two  archbishoprics  and  nine  bishoprics  in  the  most  considerable 
towns  of  Germany.  (Aub.  Miraei  Opera  Diplomatica,  vol.  i.  p. 
16.)  His  successors  increased  the  number  of  these;  and  as 
bishops  fixed  their  residence  in  the  chief  town  of  their  diocese, 
and  performed  religious  functions  there,  that  induced  many  people 
to  settle  in  them.  (Conring.,  ibid.,  $  48.)  But  Henry,  surnamed 
22* 


258  PROOFS  AND   ILLUSTRATIONS. 

the  Fowler,  who  began  his  reign  A.D.  920,  must  be  considered  as 
the  great  founder  of  cities  in  Germany.  The  empire  was  at  that 
time  infested  by  the  incursions  of  the  Hungarians  and  other  bar- 
barous people.  In  order  to  oppose  them,  Henry  encouraged  his 
subjects  to  settle  in  cities,  which  he  surrounded  with  walls 
strengthened  by  towers.  He  enjoined  or  persuaded  a  certain 
proportion  of  the  nobility  to  fix  their  residence  in  the  towns,  and 
thus  rendered  the  condition  of  citizens  more  honorable  than  it 
had  been  formerly.  (Wittikindus,  Annal.,  lib.  i.,  ap.  Conring.,  § 
82.)  From  this  period  the  number  of  cities  continued  to  increase, 
and  they  became  more  populous  and  more  wealthy.  But  cities  in 
Germany  were  still  destitute  of  municipal  liberty  or  jurisdiction. 
Such  of  them  as  were  situated  in  the  imperial  demesnes  were 
subject  to  the  emperors.  Their  comites,  missi,  and  other  judges 
presided  in  them  and  dispensed  justice.  Towns  situated  on  the 
estate  of  a  baron  were  part  of  his  fief,  and  he  or  his  officers  exer- 
cised a  similar  jurisdiction  in  them.  (Conring.,  ibid.,  \\  73,  74; 
Heinec.,  Elem..  Jur.  Germ.,  lib.  i.  \  104.)  The  Germans  bor- 
rowed the  institution  of  communities  from  the  Italians.  (Knip- 
schildius,  Tractatus  Politico- Histor.  Jurid.  de  Civitatum  Imperia- 
lium  Juribus,  vol.  i.  lib.  i.  cap.  5,  no.  23.)  Frederic  Barbarossa  was 
the  first  emperor  who,  from  the  same  political  consideration  that 
influenced  Louis  le  Gros,  multiplied  communities  in  order  to 
abridge  the  power  of  the  nobles.  (Pfeffel,  Abrege  de  1'Histoire 
et  du  Droit  publique  d'Allemagne,  4to,  p.  297.)  From  the  reign 
of  Henry  the  Fowler  to  the  time  when  the  German  cities  acquired 
full  possession  of  their  immunities,  various  circumstances  con- 
tributed to  their  increase.  The  establishment  of  bishoprics  (al- 
ready mentioned),  and  the  building  of  cathedrals,  naturally  in- 
duced many  people  to  settle  near  the  chief  place  of  worship.  It 
became  the  custom  to  hold  councils  and  courts  of  judicature  of 
every  kind,  ecclesiastical  as  well  as  civil,  in  cities.  In  the  eleventh 
century  many  slaves  were  enfranchised,  the  greater  part  of  whom 
settled  in  cities.  Several  mines  were  discovered  and  wrought  in 
different  provinces,  which  drew  together  such  a  concourse  of 
people  as  gave  rise  to  several  cities  and  increased  the  number  of 
inhabitants  in  others.  (Conring.,  \  105.)  The  cities  began  in  the 


PROOFS  AND   ILLUSTRATIONS. 


259 


thirteenth  century  to  form  leagues  for  their  mutual  defence,  and 
for  repressing  the  disorders  occasioned  by  the  private  wars  among 
the  barons,  as  well  as  by  their  exactions.  This  rendered  the  con- 
dition of  the  inhabitants  of  cities  more  secure  than  that  of  any 
other  order  of  men,  and  allured  many  to  become  members  of 
their  communities.  (Conring.,  g  94.)  There  were  inhabitants 
of  three  different  ranks  in  the  towns  of  Germany :  the  nobles,  or 
families;  the  citizens,  or  liberi ;  and  the  artisans,  who  were 
slaves,  or  homines  proprii.  (Knipschild.,  lib.  ii.  cap.  29,  no.  13.) 
Henry  V.,  who  began  his  reign  A.D.  1106,  enfranchised  the  slaves 
who  were  artisans  or  inhabitants  in  several  towns,  and  gave  them 
the  rank  of  citizens  or  liberi.  (Pfeffel,  p.  254;  Knipsch.,  lib.  ii. 
c.  29,  nos.  113,  119.)  Though  the  cities  in  Germany  did  not 
acquire  liberty  so  early  as  those  in  France,  they  extended  their 
privileges  much  farther.  All  the  imperial  and  free  cities,  the 
number  of  which  is  considerable,  acquired  the  full  right  of  being 
immediate ;  by  which  term,  in  the  German  jurisprudence,  we  are 
to  understand  that  they  are  subject  to  the  empire  alone,  and  pos- 
sess within  their  own  precincts  all  the  rights  of  complete  and 
independent  sovereignty.  The  various  privileges  of  the  imperial 
cities,  the  great  guardians  of  the  Germanic  liberties,  are  enumer- 
ated by  Knipschildius,  lib.  ii.  The  most  important  articles  are 
generally  known,  and  it  would  be  improper  to  enter  into  any  dis- 
quisition concerning  minute  particulars. 

NOTE  XVIII.— Sect.  I.  p.  38. 

The  Spanish  historians  are  almost  entirely  silent  concerning  the 
origin  and  progress  of  communities  in  that  kingdom;  so  that  1 
cannot  fix  with  any  degree  of  certainty  the  time  and  manner  of 
their  first  introduction  there.  It  appears,  however,  from  Mariana, 
vol.  ii.  p.  221,  fol.,  Hagoe,  1736,  that  in  the  year  1350  eighteen 
cities  had  obtained  a  seat  in  the  cortes  of  Castile.  From  the 
account  which  will  be  given  of  their  constitution  and  pretensions, 
Sect.  III.  of  this  volume,  it  will  appear  that  their  privileges  and 
form  of  government  were  the  same  with  those  of  the  other  feudal 
corporations;  and  this,  as  well  as  the  perfect  similarity  of  polit- 


260  PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

ical  institutions  and  transactions  in  all  the  feudal  kingdoms,  may 
lead  us  to  conclude  that  communities  were  introduced  there  in 
the  same  manner  and  probably  about  the  same  time  as  in  the 
other  nations  of  Europe.  In  Aragon,  as  I  shall  have  occasion  to 
observe  in  a  subsequent  note,  cities  seem  early  to  have  acquired 
extensive  immunities,  together  with  a  share  in  the  legislature.  In 
the  year  1118  the  citizens  of  Saragossa  had  not  only  attained  po- 
litical liberty,  but  they  were  declared  to  be  of  equal  rank  with  the 
nobles  of  the  second  class ;  and  many  other  immunities,  unknown 
to  persons  in  their  rank  of  life  in  other  parts  of  Europe,  were 
conferred  upon  them.  (Zurita,  Anales  de  Aragon,  torn.  i.  p.  44.) 
In  ^England,  the  establishment  of  communities  or  corporations 
was  posterior  to  the  Conquest.  The  practice  was  borrowed  from 
France,  and  the  privileges  granted  by  the  crown  were  perfectly 
similar  to  those  which  I  have  enumerated.  But,  as  this  part  of 
history  is  well  known  to  most  of  my  readers,  I  shall,  without 
entering  into  any  critical  or  minute  discussion,  refer  them  to 
authors  who  have  fully  illustrated  this  interesting  point  in  the 
English  history.  (Brady's  Treatise  of  Boroughs;  Madox,  Firma 
Burgi,  cap.  i.  sect.  ix. ;  Hume's  History  of  England,  vol.  i.,  Ap- 
pend, i.  and  ii.)  It  is  not  improbable  that  some  of  the  towns  in 
England  were  formed  into  corporations  under  the  Saxon  kings, 
and  that  the  charters  granted  by  the  kings  of  the  Norman  race 
were  not  charters  of  enfranchisement  from  a  state  of  slavery,  but 
a  confirmation  of  privileges  which  they  already  enjoyed.  (See 
Lord  Lyttelton's  History  of  Henry  II.,  vol.  ii.  p.  317.)  The 
English  cities,  however,  were  very  inconsiderable  in  the  twelfth 
century.  A  clear  proof  of  this  occurs  in  the  history  to  which  I 
last  referred.  Fitzstephen,  a  contemporary  author,  gives  a  de- 
scription of  the  city  of  London  in  the  reign  of  Henry  II.,  and  the 
terms  in  which  he  speaks  of  its  trade,  its  wealth,  and  the  splendor 
of  its  inhabitants  would  suggest  no  inadequate  idea  of  its  state  at 
present,  when  it  is  the  greatest  and  most  opulent  city  of  Europe. 
But  all  ideas  of  grandeur  and  magnificence  are  merely  compara- 
tive ;  and  every  description  of  them  in  general  terms  is  very  apt 
to  deceive.  It  appears  from  Peter  of  Blois,  archdeacon  of  Lon- 
don, who  flourished  in  the  same  reign,  and  who  had  good  oppor- 


PROOFS  AND   ILLUSTRATIONS.  26 1 

tunity  of  being  well  informed,  that  this  city,  of  which  Fitzstephen 
gives  such  a  pompous  account,  contained  no  more  than  forty 
thousand  inhabitants.  (Ibid.,  pp.  315,  316.)  The  other  cities 
were  small  in  proportion,  and  were  not  in  a  condition  to  extort 
any  extensive  privileges.  That  the  constitution  of  the  boroughs 
in  Scotland,  in  many  circumstances,  resembled  that  of  the  towns 
in  France  and  England,  is  manifest  from  the  Leges  Burgorum, 
annexed  to  the  Regiam  Majestatem. 

NOTE  XIX.— Sect  I.  p.  43. 

Soon  after  the  introduction  of  the  third  estate  into  the  national 
council,  the  spirit  of  liberty  which  that  excited  in  France  began  to 
produce  conspicuous  effects.  In  several  provinces  of  France  the 
nobility  and  communities  formed  associations  whereby  they  bound 
themselves  to  defend  their  rights  and  privileges  against  the  for- 
midable and  arbitrary  proceedings  of  the  king.  The  Count  de 
Boulainvilliers  has  preserved  a  copy  of  one  of  these  associations, 
dated  in  the  year  1314,  twelve  years  after  the  admission  of  the 
deputies  from  towns  into  the  states-general.  (Histoire  de  1'ancien 
Gouvernement  de  la  France,  torn.  ii.  p.  94.)  The  vigor  with 
which  the  people  asserted  and  prepared  to  maintain  their  rights 
obliged  their  sovereigns  to  respect  them.  Six  years  after  this 
association,  Philip  the  Long  issued  a  writ  of  summons  to  the 
community  of  Narbonne,  in  the  following  terms  :  "  Philip,  by  the 
grace,  etc.,  to  our  well-beloved,  etc.  As  we  desire  with  all  our 
heart,  and  above  all  other  things,  to  govern  our  kingdom  and 
people  in  peace  and  tranquillity,  by  the  help  of  God,  and  to 
reform  our  said  kingdom  in  so  far  as  it  stands  in  need  thereof,  for 
the  public  good  and  for  the  benefit  of  our  subjects,  who  in  times 
past  have  been  aggrieved  and  oppressed  in  divers  manners  by  the 
malice  of  sundry  persons,  as  we  have  learned  by  common  report, 
as  well  as  by  the  information  of  good  men  worthy  of  credit,  and 
we  having  determined  in  our  council  which  we  have  called  to 
meet  in  our  good  city,  etc.,  to  give  redress  to  the  utmost  of  our 
power,  by  all  ways  and  means  possible,  according  to  reason  and 
justice,  and  willing  that  this  should  be  done  with  solemnity  and 


262  PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

deliberation  by  the  advice  of  the  prelates,  barons,  and  good  towns 
of  our  realm,  and  particularly  of  you,  and  that  it  should  be  trans- 
acted agreeably  to  the  will  of  God  and  for  the  good  of  our  people, 
therefore  we  command,"  etc.  (Mably,  Observat.,  vol.  iii.,  App.,  p. 
386.)  I  shall  allow  these  to  be  only  the  formal  words  of  a  public 
and  legal  style ;  but  the  ideas  are  singular,  and  much  more  liberal 
and  enlarged  than  one  could  expect  in  that  age.  A  popular  mon- 
arch of  Great  Britain  could  hardly  address  himself  to  parliament 
in  terms  more  favorable  to  public  liberty.  There  occurs  in  the 
history  of  France  a  striking  instance  of  the  progress  which  the 
principles  of  liberty  had  made  in  that  kingdom,  and  of  the 
influence  which  the  deputies  of  towns  had  acquired  in  the  states- 
gene*ral.  During  the  calamities  in  which  the  war  with  England 
and  the  captivity  of  King  John  had  involved  France,  the  states- 
general  made  a  bold  effort  to  extend  their  own  privileges  and 
jurisdiction.  The  regulations  established  by  the  states  held  A.D. 
1355,  concerning  the  mode  of  levying  taxes,  the  administration  of 
which  they  vested  not  in  the  crown,  but  in  commissioners  appointed 
by  the  states;  concerning  the  coining  of  money;  concerning  the 
redress  of  the  grievance  of  purveyance ;  concerning  the  regular 
administration  of  justice, — are  much  more  suitable  to  the  genius 
of  a  republican  government  than  that  of  a  feudal  monarchy.  This 
curious  statute  is  published,  Ordon.,  torn.  iii.  p.  19.  Such  as  have 
not  an  opportunity  to  consult  that  large  collection  will  find  an 
abridgment  of  it  in  Hist,  de  France  par  Villaret,  torn.  ix.  p.  130, 
or  in  Histoire  de  Boulainv.,  torn.  ii.  p.  213.  The  French  historians 
represent  the  bishop  of  Laon,  and  Marcel,  provost  of  the  mer- 
chants of  Paris,  who  had  the  chief  direction  of  this  assembly,  as 
seditious  tribunes,  violent,  interested,  ambitious,  and  aiming  at 
innovations  subversive  of  the  constitution  and  government  of  their 
country.  That  may  have  been  the  case ;  but  these  men  possessed 
the  confidence  of  the  people ;  and  the  measures  which  they  pro- 
posed as  the  most  popular  and  acceptable,  as  well  as  most  likely 
to  increase  their  own  influence,  plainly  prove  that  the  spirit  of 
liberty  had  spread  wonderfully,  and  that  the  ideas  which  then 
prevailed  in  France  concerning  government  were  extremely  liberal. 
The  states-general  held  at  Paris  A.D.  1355  consisted  of  about  eight 


PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS.  263 

hundred  members,  and  above  one-half  of  these  were  deputies 
from  towns.  (M.  Secousse,  Pref.  a  Ordon.,  torn.  iii.  p.  48.)  It 
appears  that  in  all  the  different  assemblies  of  the  states  held  during 
the  reign  of  John  the  representatives  of  towns  had  great  influence, 
and  in  every  respect  the  third  state  was  considered  as  co-ordinate 
and  equal  to  either  of  the  other  two.  (Ibid.,  passim.)  These  spirited 
efforts  were  made  in  France  long  before  the  House  of  Commons 
in  England  acquired  any  considerable  influence  in  the  legislature. 
As  the  feudal  system  was  carried  to  its  utmost  height  in  France 
sooner  than  in  England,  so  it  began  to  decline  sooner  in  the 
former  than  in  the  latter  kingdom.  In  England,  almost  all  at- 
tempts to  establish  or  to  extend  the  liberty  of  the  people  have 
been  successful ;  in  France,  they  have  proved  unfortunate.  What 
were  the  accidental  events  or  political  causes  which  occasioned 
this  difference  it  is  not  my  present  business  to  inquire. 

NOTE  XX.— Sect.  I.  p.  45. 

In  a  former  Note  [No.  VIII.]  I  have  inquired  into  the  condition 
of  that  part  of  the  people  which  was  employed  in  agriculture,  and 
have  represented  the  various  hardships  and  calamities  of  their  situ- 
ation. When  charters  of  liberty  or  manumission  were  granted  to 
such  persons,  they  contained  four  concessions  corresponding  to  the 
four  capital  grievances  to  which  men  in  a  state  of  servitude  are  sub- 
ject. I.  The  right  of  disposing  of  their  persons  by  sale  or  grant 
was  relinquished.  2.  Power  was  given  to  them  of  conveying  their 
property  and  effects  by  will  or  any  other  legal  deed.  Or  if  they 
happened  to  die  intestate,  it  was  provided  that  their  property  should 
go  to  their  lawful  heirs,  in  the  same  manner  as  the  property  of 
other  persons.  3.  The  services  and  taxes  which  they  owed  to 
their  superior  or  liege-lord,  which  were  formerly  arbitrary  and 
imposed  at  pleasure,  are  precisely  ascertained.  4.  They  are 
allowed  the  privilege  of  marrying  according  to  their  own  inclina- 
tion :  formerly  they  could  contract  no  marriage  without  their  lord's 
permission,  and  with  no  person  but  one  of  his  slaves.  All  these 
particulars  are  found  united  in  the  charter  granted  "  Habitatoribus 
Montis  Britonis,"  A.D.  1376.  (Hist,  de  Dauphin£,  torn.  i.  p.  8l.) 


264  PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

Many  circumstances  concurred  with  those  which  I  have  mentioned 
in  the  text  in  procuring  them  deliverance  from  that  wretched  state. 
The  gentle  spirit  of  the  Christian  religion,  the  doctrines  which  it 
teaches  concerning  the  original  equality  of  mankind,  its  tenets 
with  respect  to  the  divine  government  and  the  impartial  eye  with 
which  the  Almighty  regards  men  of  every  condition  and  admits 
them  to  a  participation  of  his  benefits,  are  all  inconsistent  with 
servitude.  But  in  this,  as  in  many  other  instances,  considerations 
of  interest  and  the  maxims  of  false  policy  led  men  to  a  conduct 
inconsistent  with  their  principles.  They  were  so  sensible,  how- 
ever, of  this  inconsistency,  that  to  set  their  fellow-Christians  at 
liberty  from  servitude  was  deemed  an  act  of  piety  highly  merito- 
rious and  acceptable  to  Heaven.  The  humane  spirit  of  the  Chris- 
tian religion  struggled  long  with  the  maxims  and  manners  of  the 
world,  and  contributed  more  than  any  other  circumstance  to  in- 
troduce the  practice  of  manumission.  When  Pope  Gregory  the 
Great,  who  flourished  towards  the  end  of  the  sixth  century,  granted 
liberty  to  some  of  his  slaves,  he  gives  this  reason  for  it :  "  Cum 
Redemptor  noster,  totius  conditor  naturae,  ad  hoc  propitiatus 
humanam  carnem  voluerit  assumere,  ut  divinitatis  suae  gratia, 
dirempto  (quo  tenebamur  captivi)  vinculo,  pristinse  nos  restitueret 
libertati ;  salubriter  agitur,  si  homines,  quos  ab  initio  liberos 
natura  protulit,  et  jus  gentium  jugo  substituit  servitutis,  in  ea,  qua 
nati  fuerant,  manumittentis  beneficio,  libertati  reddantur."  (Gregor. 
Magn.,  ap.  Potgiess.,  lib.  iv.  c.  I,  \  3.)  Several  laws  or  charters 
founded  on  reasons  similar  to  this  are  produced  by  the  same 
author.  Accordingly,  a  great  part  of  the  charters  of  manumission, 
previous  to  the  reign  of  Louis  X.,  are  granted  "  pro  amore  Dei, 
pro  remedio  animae,  et  pro  mercede  animas."  (Murat.,  Antiq. 
Ital.,  vol.  i.  pp.  849,  850;  Du  Cange,  voc.  Manumissio.)  The 
formality  of  manumission  was  executed  in  a  church,  as  a  religious 
solemnity.  The  person  to  be  set  free  was  led  round  the  great 
altar  with  a  torch  in  his  hand,  he  took  hold  of  the  horns  of  the 
altar,  and  there  the  solemn  words  conferring  liberty  were  pro- 
nounced. (Du  Cange,  ibid.,  vol.  iv.  p.  467.)  I  shall  transcribe 
a  part  of  a  charter  of  manumission  granted  A.D.  1056,  both  as  it 
contains  a  full  account  of  the  ceremonies  used  in  this  form  of 


PROOFS  AND   ILLUSTRATIONS.  265 

manumission,  and  as  a  specimen  of  the  imperfect  knowledge  of 
the  Latin  tongue  in  that  barbarous  age.  It  is  granted  by  Willa, 
the  widow  of  Hugo,  the  duke  and  marquis,  in  favor  of  Clariza, 
one  of  her  slaves.  "  Et  ideo  nos  Domine  Wille  inclite  cometisse — 
libera  et  absolvo  te  Cleriza  filia  Uberto — pro  timore  omnipotentis 
Dei,  et  remedio  luminarie  anime  bone  memorie  quondam  supra 
scripto  Domini  Ugo  gloriossissimo,  ut  quando  ilium  Dominus  de 
hac  vita  migrare  jusserit,  pars  iniqua  non  abeat  potestatem  ullam, 
sed  anguelus  Domini  nostri  Jesu  Christi  colocare  dignitur  ilium 
inter  sanctos  dilectos  suos;  et  beatus  Fetrus  princips  apostolorum, 
qui  habed  potestatem  omnium  animarum  ligandi  et  absolvendi,  ut 
ipsi  absolvat  animas  ejus  de  peccatis  sui,  aperiad  ilium  janua  para- 
disi ;  pro  eadem  vero  rationi,  in  mano  mite  te,  Benzo  presbiter,  ut 
vadat  tecum  in  ecclesia  sancti  Bartholomaei  apostoli ;  traad  de 
tribus  vicibus  circa  altare  ipsius  ecclesise  cum  csereo  apprehensum 
in  manibus  tuis  et  manibus  suis ;  deinde  exile  ambulate  in  via 
quadrubio,  ubi  quatuor  vie  se  dividuntur.  Statimque  pro  remedio 
luminarie  anime  bone  memorie  quondam  supra  scripto  Domini 
Ugo  et  ipsi  presbiter  Benzo  fecit  omnia,  et  dixit,  Ecce  quatuor  vie, 
ite  et  ambulate  in  quacunque  partem  tibi  placuerit,  tarn  sic  supra 
scripta  Cleriza,  qua  nosque  tui  heredes,  qui  ab  ac  hora  in  antea 
nati,  vel  procreati  fuerit  utriusque  sexus,"  etc.  (Murat.,  ibid.,  p. 
853.)  Many  other  charters  might  have  been  selected  which  in 
point  of  grammar  or  style  are  in  no  wise  superior  to  this.  Manu- 
mission was  frequently  granted  on  death-bed  or  by  latter  will.  As 
the  minds  of  men  are  at  that  time  awakened  to  sentiments  of 
humanity  and  piety,  these  deeds  proceeded  from  religious  motives, 
and  were  granted  pro  redemption*  aninuz,  in  order  to  obtain  ac- 
ceptance with  God.  (Du  Cange,  ubi  supra,  p.  470,  et  voc.  Servus, 
vol.  vi.  p.  451.)  Another  method  of  obtaining  liberty  was  by 
entering  into  holy  orders,  or  taking  the  vow  in  a  monastery.  This 
was  permitted  for  some  time ;  but  so  many  slaves  escaped,  by  this 
means,  out  of  the  hands  of  their  masters,  that  the  practice  was 
afterwards  restrained,  and  at  last  prohibited,  by  the  laws  of  almost 
all  the  nations  of  Europe.  (Murat.,  ibid.,  p.  842.)  Conformably 
to  the  same  principles,  princes,  on  the  birth  of  a  son,  or  upon  any 
other  agreeable  event,  appointed  a  certain  number  of  slaves  to  be 
Charles. — VOL.  I. — M  23 


266  PROOFS  AND   ILLUSTRATIONS. 

enfranchised,  as  a  testimony  of  their  gratitude  to  God  for  that 
benefit.  (Marculfi  Form.,  lib.  i.  cap.  39.)  There  are  several 
forms  of  manumission  published  by  Marculfus,  and  all  of  them 
are  founded  on  religious  considerations,  in  order  to  procure  the 
favor  of  God  or  to  obtain  the  forgiveness  of  their  sins.  (Lib.  ii. 
c-  23>  33>  34»  edit.  Baluz.)  The  same  observation  holds  with 
respect  to  the  other  collections  of  Formulae  annexed  to  Marculfus. 
As  sentiments  of  religion  induced  some  to  grant  liberty  to  their 
fellow-Christians  who  groaned  under  the  yoke  of  servitude,  so 
mistaken  ideas  concerning  devotion  led  others  to  relinquish  their 
liberty.  When  a  person  conceived  an  extraordinary  respect  for 
the  saint  who  was  the  patron  of  any  church  or  monastery  in  which 
he  was  accustomed  to  attend  religious  worship,  it  was  not  unusual, 
among  men  possessed  with  an  excess  of  superstitious  reverence,  to 
give  up  themselves  and  their  posterity  to  be  the  slaves  of  the  saint. 
(Mabillon,  De  Re  Diplomat.,  lib.  vi.  p.  632.)  The  oblati,  or  vol- 
untary slaves  of  churches  or  monasteries,  were  very  numerous,  and 
may  be  divided  into  three  different  classes.  The  first  were  such 
as  put  themselves  and  effects  under  the  protection  of  a  particular 
church  or  monastery,  binding  themselves  to  defend  its  privileges 
and  property  against  every  aggressor.  These  were  prompted  to 
do  so  not  merely  by  devotion,  but  in  order  to  obtain  that  security 
which  arose  from  the  protection  of  the  Church.  They  were  rather 
vassals  than  slaves,  and  sometimes  persons  of  noble  birth  found  it 
prudent  to  secure  the  protection  of  the  Church  in  this  manner. 
Persons  of  the  second  class  bound  themselves  to  pay  an  annual 
tax  or  quit-rent  out  of  their  estates  to  a  church  or  monastery. 
Besides  this,  they  sometimes  engaged  to  perform  certain  services. 
They  were  called  censuales.  The  last  class  consisted  of  such  as 
actually  renounced  their  liberty  and  became  slaves  in  the  strict 
and  proper  sense  of  the  word.  These  were  called  ministeriales, 
and  enslaved  their  bodies,  as  some  of  the  charters  bear,  that  they 
might  procure  the  liberty  of  their  souls.  (Potgiesserus,  De  Statu 
Servorum,  lib.  i.  c.  I,  \\  6,  7.)  How  zealous  the  clergy  were  to 
encourage  the  opinions  which  led  to  this  practice,  will  appear  from 
a  clause  in  a  charter  by  which  one  gives  up  himself  as  a  slave  to 
a  monastery :  "  Cum  sit  omni  carnali  ingenuitate  generosius  extre- 


PROOFS  AND   ILLUSTRATIONS.  267 

mum  quodcumque  Dei  servitium,  scilicet  quod  terrena  nobilitas 
multos  plerumque  vitiorum  servos  facit,servitus  vero  Christi  nobiles 
virtutibus  reddit,  nemo  autem  sani  capitis  virtutibus  vitia  compara- 
verit,  claret  pro  certo  eum  esse  generosiorem,  qui  se  Dei  servitio 
prsebuerit  proniorem.  Quod  ego  Ragnaldus  intelligens,"  etc. 
Another  charter  is  expressed  in  the  following  words :  "  Eligens 
magis  esse  servus  Dei  quam  libertus  sseculi,  firmiter  credens  et 
sciens,  quod  servire  Deo,  regnare  est,  summaque  ingenuitas  sit  in 
qua  servitus  comparabatur  Christi,"  etc.  (Du  Cange,  voc.  Oblatus, 
vol.  iv.  pp.  1286,  1287.)  Great,  however,  as  the  power  of  religion 
was,  it  does  not  appear  that  the  enfranchisement  of  slaves  was  a 
frequent  practice  while  the  feudal  system  preserved  its  vigor.  On 
the  contrary,  there  were  laws  which  set  bounds  to  it,  as  detrimental 
to  society.  (Potgiess.,  lib.  iv.  c.  2,  \  6.)  The  inferior  order  of 
men  owed  the  recovery  of  their  liberty  to  the  decline  of  that 
aristocratical  policy  which  lodged  the  most  extensive  power  in  the 
hands  of  a  few  members  of  the  society  and  depressed  all  the  rest. 
When  Louis  X.  issued  his  ordinance,  several  slaves  had  been  so 
long  accustomed  to  servitude,  and  their  minds  were  so  much  de- 
based by  that  unhappy  situation,  that  they  refused  to  accept  of  the 
liberty  which  was  offered  them.  (D'Ach.,  Spicil.,  vol.  xi.  p.  387.) 
Long  after  the  reign  of  Louis  X.  several  of  the  French  nobility 
continued  to  assert  their  ancient  dominion  over  their  slaves.  It 
appears  from  an  ordinance  of  the  famous  Bertrand  de  Guesclin, 
constable  of  France,  that  the  custom  of  enfranchising  them  was 
considered  as  a  pernicious  innovation.  (Morice,  M£m.  pour  servir 
de  Preuves  a  1'Hist.  de  Bret.,  torn.  ii.  p.  100).  In  some  instances, 
when  the  pnedial  slaves  were  declared  to  be  freemen,  they  were 
still  bound  to  perform  certain  services  to  their  ancient  masters,  and 
were  kept  in  a  state  different  from  other  subjects,  being  restricted 
either  from  purchasing  land  or  becoming  members  of  a  community 
within  the  precincts  of  the  manor  to  which  they  formerly  belonged. 
(Martene  et  Durand,  Thesaur.  Anecdot.,  vol.  i.  p.  914.)  This, 
however,  seems  not  to  have  been  common.  There  is  no  general 
law  for  the  manumission  of  slaves  in  the  Statute-book  of  England, 
similar  to  that  which  has  been  quoted  from  the  Ordonnances  of  the 
kings  of  France.  Though  the  genius  of  the  English  constitution 


268  PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

seems  early  to  have  favored  personal  liberty,  personal  servitude, 
nevertheless,  continued  long  in  England  in  some  particular  places. 
In  the  year  1514  we  find  a  charter  of  Henry  VIII.  enfranchising 
two  slaves  belonging  to  one  of  his  manors.  (Ryin.,  Feeder.,  vol. 
xiii.  p.  470.)  As  late  as  the  year  1574,  there  is  a  commission  from 
Queen  Elizabeth  with  respect  to  the  manumission  of  certain  bond- 
men belonging  to  her.  Rymer,  in  Observat.  on  the  Statutes,  etc., 
P.  251. 

NOTE  XXL— Sect.  I.  p.  52. 

There  is  no  custom  in  the  Middle  Ages  more  singular  than  that 
of  private  war.  It  is  a  right  of  so  great  importance,  and  prevailed 
so  universally,  that  the  regulations  concerning  it  occupy  a  consid- 
erable place  in  the  system  of  laws  during  the  Middle  Ages.  M.  de 
Montesquieu,  who  has  unravelled  so  many  intricate  points  in  feudal 
jurisprudence  and  thrown  light  on  so  many  customs  formerly  ob- 
scure and  unintelligible,  was  not  led  by  his  subject  to  consider  this. 
I  shall  therefore  give  a  more  minute  account  of  the  customs  and 
regulations  which  directed  a  practice  so  contrary  to  the  present  ideas 
of  civilized  nations  concerning  government  and  order.  I.  Among 
the  ancient  Germans,  as  well  as  other  nations  in  a  similar  state  of 
society,  the  right  of  avenging  injuries  was  a  private  and  personal 
right  exercised  by  force  of  arms,  without  any  reference  to  an 
umpire  or  any  appeal  to  a  magistrate  for  decision.  The  clear- 
est proofs  of  this  were  produced,  Note  VI.  2.  This  practice  sub- 
sisted among  the  barbarous  nations  after  their  settlement  in  the 
provinces  of  the  empire  which  they  conquered ;  and  as  the  causes 
of  dissension  among  them  multiplied,  their  family  feuds  and  private 
wars  became  more  frequent.  Proofs  of  this  occur  in  their  early 
historians  (Greg.  Turon.,  Hist.,  lib.  vii.  c.  2,  lib.  viii.  c.  18,  lib. 
x.  c.  27),  and  likewise  in  the  codes  of  their  laws.  It  was  not  only 
allowable  for  the  relations  to  avenge  the  injuries  of  their  family, 
but  it  was  incumbent  on  them.  Thus,  by  the  laws  of  the  AngH 
and  Werini,  "  ad  quemcunque  hereditas  terrse  pervenerit,  ad  ilium 
vestis  bellica,  id  est  lorica  et  ultio  proximi,  et  solatio  leudis,  debet 
pertinere"  (tit.  vi.  §  5,  ap.  Lindenbr.,  Leg.  Saliq.,  tit.  63 ;  Leg. 
Longob.,  lib.  ii.  tit.  14,  \  10).  3.  None  but  gentlemen,  or  persons 


PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS,  269 

of  noble  birth,  had  the  right  of  private  war.  All  disputes  between 
slaves,  villani,  the  inhabitants  of  towns,  and  freemen  of  inferior 
condition,  were  decided  in  the  courts  of  justice.  All  disputes 
between  gentlemen  and  persons  of  inferior  rank  were  terminated 
in  the  same  manner.  The  right  of  private  war  supposed  nobility  of 
birth  and  equality  of  rank  in  both  the  contending  parties.  (Beau- 
manoir,  Coustumes  de  Beauv.,  ch.  lix.  p.  300;  Ordon.  des  Rois 
de  France,  torn.  ii.  p.  395,  \  xvii.  p.  508,  \  xv.,  etc.)  The  dignified 
ecclesiastics  likewise  claimed  and  exercised  the  right  of  private 
war ;  but,  as  it  was  not  altogether  decent  for  them  to  prosecute 
quarrels  in  person,  advocati  or  vidames  were  chosen  by  the  several 
monasteries  or  bishoprics.  These  were  commonly  men  of  high 
rank  and  reputation,  who  became  the  protectors  of  the  churches 
and  convents  by  which  they  were  elected  ;  espoused  their  quarrels, 
and  fought  their  battles ;  "  armis  omnia  quae  erant  ecclesise  viriliter 
defendebant,  et  vigilanter  protegebant."  (Brussel,  Usage  des  Fiefs, 
torn.  i.  p.  144;  Du  Cange,  voc.  Advocatus.)  On  many  occasions 
the  martial  ideas  to  which  ecclesiastics  of  noble  birth  were  accus- 
tomed made  them  forget  the  pacific  spirit  of  their  profession,  and 
led  them  into  the  field  in  person  at  the  head  of  their  vassals: 
"  flamma,  ferro,  csede,  possessiones  ecclesiartim  prselati  defende- 
bant." (Guido  Abbas,  ap.  Du  Cange,  ibid.,  p.  179.)  4.  It  was 
not  every  injury  or  trespass  that  gave  a  gentleman  a  title  to  make 
war  upon  his  adversary.  Atrocious  acts  of  violence,  insults,  and 
affronts,  publicly  committed,  were  legal  and  permitted  motives  for 
taking  arms  against  the  authors  of  them.  Such  crimes  as  are  now 
punished  capitally  in  civilized  nations  at  that  time  justified  private 
hostilities.  (Beauman.,  ch.  lix.;  Du  Cange,  Dissert.  XXIX.,  sur 
Joinville,  p.  331.)  But  though  the  avenging  of  injuries  was  the 
only  motive  that  could  legally  authorize  a  private  war,  yet  disputes 
concerning  civil  property  often  gave  rise  to  hostilities  and  were 
terminated  by  the  sword.  (Du  Cange,  Dissert.,  p.  332.)  5.  All 
persons  present  when  any  quarrel  arose  or  any  act  of  violence  was 
committed  were  included  in  the  war  which  it  occasioned ;  for  it 
was  supposed  to  be  impossible  for  any  man  in  such  a  situation  to 
remain  neuter,  without  taking  side  with  one  or  other  of  the  con- 
tending parties.  ( Beauman.,  p.  300.)  6.  All  the  kindred  of  the  two 
23* 


270  PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

principals  in  the  war  were  included  in  it,  and  obliged  to  espouse 
the  quarrel  of  the  chieftain  with  whom  they  were  connected. 
(Du  Cange,  ibid.,  p.  332.)  This  was  founded  on  the  maxim  of  the 
ancient  Germans,  "  suscipere  tarn  inimicitias  seu  patris,  seu  pro- 
pinqui,  quam  amicitias,  necesse  est ;"  a  maxim  natural  to  all  rude 
nations,  among  which  the  form  of  society,  and  political  union, 
strengthen  such  a  sentiment.  This  obligation  was  enforced  by 
legal  authority.  If  a  person  refused  to  take  part  in  the  quarrel  of 
his  kinsman  and  to  aid  him  against  his  adversary,  he  was  deemed 
to  have  renounced  all  the  rights  and  privileges  of  kindredship, 
and  became  incapable  of  succeeding  to  any  of  his  relations,  or  of 
deriving  any  benefit  from  any  civil  right  or  property  belonging  to 
them.  (Du  Cange,  Dissert.,  p.  333.)  The  method  of  ascertaining 
the  degree  of  affinity  which  obliged  a  person  to  take  part  in  the 
quarrel  of  a  kinsman  was  curious.  While  the  Church  prohibited 
the  marriage  of  persons  within  the  seventh  degree  of  affinity,  the 
vengeance  of  private  war  extended  as  far  as  this  absurd  prohibition, 
and  all  who  had  such  a  remote  connection  with  any  of  the  prin- 
cipals were  involved  in  the  calamities  of  war.  But  when  the 
Church  relaxed  somewhat  of  its  rigor,  and  did  not  extend  its 
prohibition  of  marrying  beyond  the  fourth  degree  of  affinity,  the 
same  restriction  took  place  in  the  conduct  of  private  war.  (Beau- 
man.,  p.  303  ;  Du  Cange,  Dissert.,  p.  333.)  7.  A  private  war  could 
not  be  carried  on  between  two  full  brothers,  because  both  have  the 
same  common  kindred,  and  consequently  neither  had  any  persons 
bound  to  stand  by  him  against  the  other  in  the  contest;  but  two 
brothers  of  the  half-blood  might  wage  war,  because  each  of  them 
has  a  distinct  kindred.  (Beauman.,  p.  299.)  8.  The  vassals  of 
each  principal  in  any  private  war  were  involved  in  the  contest, 
because,  by  the  feudal  maxims,  they  were  bound  to  take  arms  in 
defence  of  the  chieftain  of  whom  they  held,  and  to  assist  him  in 
every  quarrel.  As  soon,  therefore,  as  feudal  tenures  were  intro- 
duced, and  this  artificial  connection  was  established  between 
vassals  and  the  baron  of  whom  they  held,  vassals  came  to  be 
considered  as  in  the  same  state  with  relations.  (Beauman.,  p.  303.) 
9.  Private  wars  were  very  frequent  for  several  centuries.  Nothing 
contributed  more  to  increase  those  disorders  in  government  or  to 


PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS.  271 

encourage  such  ferocity  of  manners  as  reduced  the  nations  of 
Europe  to  that  wretched  state  which  distinguished  the  period  of 
history  which  I  am  reviewing.  Nothing  was  such  an  obstacle  to 
the  introduction  of  a  regular  administration  of  justice.  Nothing 
could  more  effectually  discourage  industry  or  retard  the  progress 
and  cultivation  of  the  arts  of  peace.  Private  wars  were  carried  on 
with  all  the  destructive  rage  which  is  to  be  dreaded  from  violent 
resentment  when  armed  with  force  and  authorized  by  law.  It 
appears  from  the  statutes  prohibiting  or  restraining  the  exercise  of 
private  hostilities  that  the  invasion  of  the  most  barbarous  enemy 
could  not  be  more  desolating  to  a  country,  or  more  fatal  to  its 
inhabitants,  than  those  intestine  wars.  (Ordon.,  torn.  i.  p.  701, 
torn.  ii.  pp.  395,  408,  507,  etc.)  The  contemporary  historians 
describe  the  excesses  committed  in  prosecution  of  these  quarrels 
in  such  terms  as  excite  astonishment  and  horror.  I  shall  mention 
only  one  passage  from  the  History  of  the  Holy  War,  by  Guibert, 
abbot  of  Nogent :  "  Erat  eo  tempore,  maximis  ad  invicem  hostili- 
tatibus,  totius  Francorum  regni  facta  turbatio;  crebra  ubique  latro- 
cinia,  viarum  pbsessio ;  audiebantur  passim,  immo  fiebant  incendia 
infinita;  nullis  prseter  sola  et  indomita  cupiditate  existentibus 
causis,  extruebantur  prselia;  et  ut  brevi  totum  claudam,  quicquid 
obtutibus  cupidorum  subjacebat,  nusquam  attendendo  cujus  esset, 
prasdae  patebat."  Gesta  Dei  per  Francos,  vol.  i.  p.  482. 

Having  thus  collected  the  chief  regulations  which  custom  had 
established  concerning  the  right  and  exercise  of  private  war,  I 
shall  enumerate,  in  chronological  order,  the  various  expedients 
employed  to  abolish  or  restrain  this  fatal  custom.  I.  The  first 
expedient  employed  by  the  civil  magistrate,  in  order  to  set  some 
bounds  to  the  violence  of  private  revenge,  was  the  fixing  by  law 
the  fine  or  composition  to  be  paid  for  each  different  crime.  The 
injured  person  was  originally  the  sole  judge  concerning  the  na- 
ture of  the  wrong  which  he  had  suffered,  the  degree  of  vengeance 
which  he  should  exact,  as  well  as  the  species  of  atonement  or 
reparation  with  which  he  might  rest  satisfied.  Resentment  be- 
came, of  course,  as  implacable  as  it  was  fierce.  It  was  often  a 
point  of  honor  not  to  forgive,  nor  to  be  reconciled.  This  made 
it  necessary  to  fix  those  compositions  which  make  so  great  a  figure 


272  PROOFS  AND   ILLUSTRATIONS. 

in  the  laws  of  barbarous  nations.  The  nature  of  crimes  and 
offences  was  estimated  by  the  magistrate,  and  the  sum  due  to  the 
person  offended  was  ascertained  with  a  minute,  and  often  a  whim- 
sical, accuracy.  Rotharis,  the  legislator  of  the  Lombards,  who 
reigned  about  the  middle  of  the  seventh  century,  discovers  his 
intention  both  in  ascertaining  the  composition  to  be  paid  by  the 
offender  and  in  increasing  its  value:  it  is,  says  he,  that  the  enmity 
may  be  extinguished,  the  prosecution  may  cease,  and  peace  may 
be  restored.  (Leg.  Longob.,  lib.  i.  tit.  7,  \  10.)  2.  About  the 
beginning  of  the  ninth  century,  Charlemagne  struck  at  the  root 
of  the  evil,  and  enacted  "  That  when  any  person  had  been  guilty 
of  a  crime,  or  had  committed  an  outrage,  he  should  immediately 
submit  to  the  penance  which  the  Church  imposed,  and  offer  to 
pay  the  composition  which  the  law  prescribed ;  and  if  the  injured 
person  or  his  kindred  should  refuse  to  accept  of  this,  and  pre- 
sume to  avenge  themselves  by  force  of  arms,  their  lands  and 
properties  should  be  forfeited."  (Capitul.,  A.D.  802,  edit.  Baluz.. 
vol.  i.  p.  371.)  3.  But  in  this,  as  well  as  in  other  regulations,  the 
genius  of  Charlemagne  advanced  before  the  spirit  of  his  age. 
The  ideas  of  his  contemporaries  concerning  regular  government 
were  too  imperfect,  and  their  manners  too  fierce,  to  submit  to  this 
law.  Private  wars,  with  all  the  calamities  which  they  occasioned, 
became  more  frequent  than  ever  after  the  death  of  that  great 
monarch.  His  successors  were  unable  to  restrain  them.  The 
Church  found  it  necessary  tp  interpose.  The  most  early  of  these 
interpositions  now  extant  is  towards  the  end  of  the  tenth  century. 
In  the  year  990,  several  bishops  in  the  south  of  France  assembled, 
and  published  various  regulations  in  order  to  set  some  bounds  to 
the  violence  and  frequency  of  private  wars  :  if  any  person  within 
their  dioceses  should  venture  to  transgress,  they  ordained  that  he 
should  be  excluded  from  all  Christian  privileges  during  his  life, 
and  be  denied  Christian  burial  after  his  death.  (Du  Mont,  Corps 
Diplomatique,  torn.  i.  p.  41.)  These,  however,  were  only  partial 
remedies;  and  therefore  a  council  was  held  at  Limoges,  A.D.  994. 
The  bodies  of  the  saints,  according  to  the  custom  of  those  ages, 
were  carried  thither;  and  by  these  sacred  relics  men  were  ex- 
horted to  lay  down  their  arms,  to  extinguish  their  animosities, 


PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


273 


and  to  swear  that  they  would  not,  for  the  future,  violate  the  public 
peace  by  their  private  hostilities.  (Bouquet,  Recueil  des  Histor., 
vol.  x.  pp.  49,  147.)  Several  other  councils  issued  decrees  to  the 
same  effect.  (Du  Cange,  Dissert.,  343.)  4.  But  the  authority  of 
councils,  how  venerable  soever  in  those  ages,  was  not  sufficient 
to  abolish  a  custom  which  flattered  the  pride  of  the  nobles  and 
gratified  their  favorite  passions.  The  evil  grew  so  intolerable  that 
it  became  necessary  to  employ  supernatural  means  for  suppressing 
it.  A  bishop  of  Aquitaine,  A.D.  1032,  pretended  that  an  angel 
had  appeared  to  him  and  brought  him  a  writing  from  Heaven, 
enjoining  men  to  cease  from  their  hostilities  and  to  be  reconciled 
to  each  other.  It  was  during  a  season  of  public  calamity  that  he 
published  this  revelation.  The  minds  of  men  were  disposed  to 
receive  pious  impressions,  and  willing  to  perform  anything  in 
order  to  avert  the  wrath  of  Heaven.  A  general  peace  and  cessa- 
tion from  hostilities  took  place,  and  continued  for  seven  years; 
and  a  resolution  was  formed  that  no  man  should,  in  times  to 
come,  attack  or  molest  his  adversaries  during  the  seasons  set 
apart  for  celebrating  the  great  festivals  of  the  Church,  or  from  the 
evening  of  Thursday  in  each  week  to  the  morning  of  Monday  in 
the  week  ensuing,  the  intervening  days  being  considered  particu- 
larly holy,  our  Lord's  passion  having  happened  on  one  of  these 
days,  and  his  resurrection  on  another.  A  change  in  the  disposi- 
tions of  men  so  sudden,  and  which  produced  a  resolution  so 
unexpected,  was  considered  as  miraculous ;  and  the  respite  from 
hostilities  which  followed  upon  it  was  called  the  truce  of  God. 
(Glaber.  Rodulphus,  Histor.,  lib.  v.,  ap.  Bouquet,  vol.  x.  p.  59.) 
This,  from  being  a  regulation  or  concert  in  one  kingdom,  became 
a  general  law  in  Christendom,  was  confirmed  by  the  authority  of 
several  popes,  and  the  violators  were  subjected  to  the  penalty  of 
excommunication.  (Corpus  Jur.  Canon.  Decretal.,  lib.  i.  tit.  34, 
c.  I ;  Du  Cange,  Glossar.,  voc.  Treuga.)  An  act  of  the  council 
of  Toulujes  in  Roussillon,  A.D.  1041,  containing  all  the  stipula- 
tions required  by  the  truce  of  God,  is  published  by  Dom  de  Vic 
et  Dom  Vaisette,  Hist,  de  Languedoc,  torn,  ii.,  Preuves,  p.  206. 
A  cessation  from  hostilities  during  three  complete  days  in  every 
week  allowed  such  a  considerable  space  for  the  passions  of  the 
M* 


274 


PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


antagonists  to  cool,  and  for  the  people  to  enjoy  a  respite  from  the 
calamities  of  war,  as  well  as  to  take  measures  for  their  own  secu- 
rity, that  if  this  truce  of  God  had  been  exactly  observed  it  must 
have  gone  far  towards  putting  an  end  to  private  wars.  This, 
however,  seems  not  to  have  been  the  case :  the  nobles,  disregard- 
ing the  truce,  prosecuted  their  quarrels  without  interruption,  as 
formerly.  "  Qua  nimirum  tempestate,  universal  provincial  adeo 
devastationis  continuse  importunitate  inquietantur,  ut  ne  ipsa,  pro 
observatione  divinse  pacis,  professa  sacramenta  custodiantur." 
(Abbas  Uspurgensis,  apud  Datt.,  de  Pace  Imperil  Publica,  p.  13, 
no.  35.)  The  violent  spirit  of  the  nobility  could  not  be  restrained 
by  any*  engagements.  The  complaints  of  this  were  frequent;  and 
bishops,  in  order  to  compel  them  to  renew  their  vows  and  prom- 
ises of  ceasing  from  their  private  wars,  were  obliged  to  enjoin 
their  clergy  to  suspend  the  performance  of  divine  service  and  the 
exercise  of  any  religious  function  within  the  parishes  of  such  as 
were  refractoiy  and  obstinate.  (Hist,  de  Langued.,  par  D.  D.  de 
Vic  et  Vaisette,  torn,  ii.,  Preuves,  p.  118.)  5.  The  people,  eager 
to  obtain  relief  from  their  sufferings,  called  in  a  second  time  rev- 
elation to  their  aid.  Towards  the  end  of  the  twelfth  century,  a 
carpenter  in  Guienne  gave  out  that  Jesus  Christ,  together  with  the 
blessed  Virgin,  had  appeared  to  him,  and,  having  commanded  him 
to  exhort  mankind  to  peace,  had  given  him,  as  a  proof  of  his 
mission,  an  image  of  the  Virgin  holding  her  Son  in  her  arms, 
with  this  inscription,  Lamb  of  God,  who  takest  away  the  sins  of 
the  world,  give  us  peace.  This  low  fanatic  addressed  himself  to 
an  ignorant  age,  prone  to  credit  what  was  marvellous.  He  was 
received  as  an  inspired  messenger  of  God.  Many  prelates  and 
barons  assembled  at  Puy  and  took  an  oath  not  only  to  make  peace 
with  all  their  enemies,  but  to  attack  such  as  refused  to  lay  down 
their  arms  and  to  be  reconciled  to  their  enemies.  They  formed 
an  association  for  this  purpose,  and  assumed  the  honorable  name 
of  the  brotherhood  of  God.  (Robertus  de  Monte  Michaele,  ap. 
M.  de  Lauriere,  PreT.,  torn,  i.,  Ordon.,  p.  29.)  But  the  influence 
of  this  superstitious  terror  or  devotion  was  not  of  long  continu- 
ance. 6.  The  civil  magistrate  was  obliged  to  exert  his  authority 
in  order  to  check  a  custom  which  threatened  a  dissolution  of 


PROOFS  AND   ILLUSTRATIONS. 


275 


government.  Philip  Augustus,  as  some  imagine,  or  St.  Louis,  as 
is  more  probable,  published  an  ordinance,  A.D.  1245,  prohibiting 
any  person  to  commence  hostilities  against  the  friends  and  vassals 
of  his  adversary  until  forty  days  after  the  commission  of  the  crime 
or  offence  which  gave  rise  to  the  quarrel :  declaring  that  if  any 
man  presumed  to  transgress  this  statute  he  should  be  considered 
as  guilty  of  a  breach  of  the  public  peace  and  be  tried  and  pun- 
ished by  the  judge  ordinary  as  a  traitor.  (Ordon.,  torn.  i.  p.  56.) 
This  was  called  the  royal  truce,  and  afforded  time  for  the  violence 
of  resentment  to  subside,  as  well  as  leisure  for  the  good  offices  of 
such  as  were  willing  to  compose  the  difference.  The  happy  effects 
of  this  regulation  seem  to  have  been  considerable,  if  we  may 
judge  from  the  solicitude  of  succeeding  monarchs  to  enforce  it. 
7.  In  order  to  restrain  the  exercise  of  private  war  still  farther, 
Philip  the  Fair,  towards  the  close  of  the  same  century,  A.D.  1296, 
published  an  ordinance  commanding  all  private  hostilities  to  cease 
while  he  was  engaged  in  war  against  the  enemies  of  the  state. 
(Ordon.,  torn.  i.  pp.  328,  390.)  This  regulation,  which  seems  to 
be  almost  essential  to  the  existence  and  preservation  of  society, 
was  often  renewed  by  his  successors,  and,  being  enforced  by  the 
regal  authority,  proved  a  considerable  check  to  the  destructive 
contests  of  the  nobles.  Both  these  regulations,  introduced  first  in 
France,  were  adopted  by  the  other  nations  of  Europe.  8.  The 
evil,  however,  was  so  inveterate  that  it  did  not  yield  to  all  these 
remedies.  No  sooner  was  public  peace  established  in  any  king- 
dom than  the  barons  renewed  their  private  hostilities.  They  not 
only  struggled  to  maintain  this  pernicious  right,  but  to  secure  the 
exercise  of  it  without  any  restraint.  Upon  the  death  of  Philip 
the  Fair,  the  nobles  of  different  provinces  in  France  formed  asso- 
ciations, and  presented  remonstrances  to  his  successor  demanding 
the  repeal  of  several  laws  by  which  he  had  abridged  the  privileges 
of  their  order.  Among  these  the  right  of  private  war  is  always 
mentioned  as  one  of  the  most  valuable ;  and  they  claim  that  the 
restraint  imposed  by  the  truce  of  God,  the  royal  truce,  as  well  as 
that  arising  from  the  ordinance  of  the  year  1296,  should  be  taken 
off.  In  some  instances  the  two  sons  of  Philip,  who  mounted  the 
throne  successively,  eluded  their  demands;  in  others  they  were 


276  PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

obliged  to  make  concessions.  (Ordon.,  torn.  i.  pp.  551,  557,  561, 
573.)  The  ordinances  to  which  I  here  refer  are  of  such  length 
that  I  cannot  insert  them ;  but  they  are  extremely  curious,  and 
may  be  peculiarly  instructive  to  an  English  reader,  as  they  throw 
considerable  light  on  that  period  of  English  history  in  which  the 
attempts  to  circumscribe  the  regal  prerogative  were  carried  on, 
not  by  the  people  struggling  for  liberty,  but  by  the  nobles  contend- 
ing for  power.  It  is  not  necessary  to  produce  any  evidence  of  the 
continuance  and  frequency  of  private  wars  under  the  successors 
of  Philip  the  Fair.  9.  A  practice  somewhat  similar  to  the  royal 
truce  was  introduced  in  order  to  strengthen  and  extend  it.  Bonds 
of  assurance,  or  mutual  security,  were  demanded  from  the  parties 
at  variance,  by  which  they  obliged  themselves  to  abstain  from  all 
hostilities,  either  during  a  time  mentioned  in  the  bond,  or  forever, 
and  became  subject  to  heavy  penalties  if  they  violated  this  obli- 
gation. These  bonds  were  sometimes  granted  voluntarily,  but 
more  frequently  exacted  by  the  authority  of  the  civil  magistrate. 
Upon  a  petition  from  the  party  who  felt  himself  weakest,  the 
magistrate  summoned  his  adversary  to  appear  in  court  and  obliged 
him  to  give  him  a  bond  of  assurance.  If,  after  that,  he  committed 
any  further  hostilities,  he  became  subject  to  all  the  penalties  of 
treason.  This  restraint  on  private  war  was  known  in  the  age  of 
St.  Louis.  (Establissements,  liv.  i.  c.  28.)  It  was  frequent  in 
Bretagne;  and,  what  is  very  remarkable,  such  bonds  of  assurance 
were  given  mutually  between  vassals  and  the  lord  of  whom  they 
held.  Oliver  de  Clisson  grants  one  to  the  duke  of  Bretagne,  his 
sovereign.  (Morice,  Mem.  pour  servir  de  Preuves  &  1'Hist.  de 
Bret.,  torn.  i.  p.  846,  torn.  ii.  p.  371.)  Many  examples  of  bonds 
of  assurance  in  other  provinces  of  France  are  collected  by  Brus- 
sel  (torn.  ii.  p.  856).  The  nobles  of  Burgundy  remonstrated 
against  this  practice,  and  obtained  exemption  from  it  as  an  en- 
croachment on  the  privileges  of  their  order.  (Ordon.,  torn.  i.  p. 
558.)  This  mode  of  security  was  first  introduced  into  cities,  and, 
the  good  effects  of  it  having  been  felt  there,  was  extended  to  the 
nobles.  (See  Note  XVI.)  10.  The  calamities  occasioned  by 
private  wars  became  at  some  times  so  intolerable  that  the  nobles 
entered  into  voluntary  associations,  binding  themselves  to  refer  all 


PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS.  277 

matters  in  dispute,  whether  concerning  civil  property  or  points  of 
honor,  ttf  the  determination  of  the  majority  of  the  associates. 
(Morice,  Mem.  pour  servir  de  Preuves  a  1'Hist.  de  Bret.,  torn.  ii. 
p.  728.)  ii.  But,  all  these  expedients  proving  ineffectual,  Charles 
VI.,  A.D.  1413,  issued  an  ordinance  expressly  prohibiting  private 
wars  on  any  pretext  whatsoever,  with  power  to  the  judge  ordinary 
to  compel  all  persons  to  comply  with  this  injunction,  and  to  punish 
such  as  should  prove  refractory  or  disobedient,  by  imprisoning 
their  persons,  seizing  their  goods,  and  appointing  the  officers  of 
justice,  manageurs  et  gasteurs,  to  live  at  free  quarters  on  their 
estate.  If  those  who  were  disobedient  to  this  edict  could  not  be 
personally  arrested,  he  appointed  their  friends  and  vassals  to  be 
seized,  and  detained  until  they  gave  surety  for  keeping  the  peace ; 
and  he  abolished  all  laws,  customs,  or  privileges  which  might  be 
pleaded  in  opposition  to  this  ordinance.  (Ordon.,tom.  x.  p.  138.) 
How  slow  is  the  progress  of  reason  and  of  civil  order !  Regula- 
tions which  to  us  appear  so  equitable,  obvious,  and  simple  required 
the  efforts  of  civil  and  ecclesiastical  authority,  during  several  cen- 
turies, to  introduce  and  establish  them.  Even  posterior  to  this 
period,  Louis  XI.  was  obliged  to  abolish  private  wars  in  Dauphin6 
by  a  particular  edict,  A.D.  1451.  Du  Cange,  Dissert.,  p.  348. 

This  note  would  swell  to  a  disproportionate  bulk  if  I  should 
attempt  to  inquire  with  the  same  minute  attention  into  the  progress 
of  this  pernicious  custom  in  the  other  countries  of  Europe.  In 
England  the  ideas  of  the  Saxons  concerning  personal  revenge, 
the  right  of  private  wars,  and  the  composition  due  to  the  party 
offended,  seem  to  have  been  much  the  same  with  those  which  pre- 
vailed on  the  Continent.  The  law  of  Ina  de  vindicantibus,  in  the 
eighth  century  (Lamb.,  p.  3) ;  those  of  Edmund  in  the  tenth  cen- 
tury, de  homicidio  (Lamb.,  p.  72),  and  de  inimicitiis  (p.  76) ;  and 
those  of  Edward  the  Confessor,  in  the  eleventh  century,  de  tem- 
poribus  et  diebus pacts,  or  Treuga  Dei  (Lamb.,  p.  126),  are  perfectly 
similar  to  the  ordonnances  of  the  French  kings  their  contempora- 
ries. The  laws  of  Edward,  de  pace  regis,  are  still  more  explicit 
than  those  of  the  French  monarchs,  and,  by  several  provisions  in 
them,  discover  that  a  more  perfect  police  w-as  established  in  Eng- 
land at  that  period.  (Lombard,  p.  128,  fol.  vers.)  Even  after  the 
Charles. — VOL.  I.  24 


278  PROOFS  AND   ILLUSTRATIONS. 

Conquest,  private  wars,  and  the  regulations  for  preventing  them, 
were  not  altogether  unknown,  as  appears  from  Madox,  Formu- 
lare  Anglicanum,  No.  CXLV.,  and  from  the  extracts  from  Domes- 
day Book  published  by  Gale,  Scriptores  Hist.  Britan.,  pp.  759» 
777.  The  well-known  clause  in  the  form  of  an  English  indict- 
ment, which,  as  an  aggravation  of  the  criminal's  guilt,  mentions 
his  having  assaulted  a  person  who  was  in  the  peace  of  God  and 
of  the  king,  seems  to  be  borrowed  from  the  Treuga  or  Pax  Dei, 
and  the  Pax  Regis,  which  I  have  explained.  But  after  the  Con- 
quest the  mention  of  private  wars  among  the  nobility  occurs  more 
rarely  in  the  English  history  than  in  that  of  any  other  European 
natioh,  and  no  laws  concerning  them  are  to  be  found  in  the  body 
of  their  statutes.  Such  a  change  in  their  own  manners,  and  such 
a  variation  from  those  of  their  neighbors,  is  remarkable.  Is  it  to 
be  ascribed  to  the  extraordinary  power  that  William  the  Norman 
acquired  by  right  of  conquest  and  transmitted  to  his  successors, 
which  rendered  the  execution  of  justice  more  vigorous  and  de- 
cisive, and  the  jurisdiction  of  the  king's  court  more  extensive, 
than  under  the  monarchs  on  the  Continent  ?  Or  was  it  owing  to 
the  settlement  of  the  Normans  in  England,  who,  having  never 
adopted  the  practice  of  private  war  in  their  own  country,  abolished 
it  in  the  kingdom  which  they  conquered  ?  It  is  asserted  in  an  or- 
dinance of  John,  king  of  France,  that  in  all  times  past  persons  of 
every  rank  in  Normandy  have  been  prohibited  to  wage  private 
war,  and  the  practice  has  been  deemed  unlawful.  (Ordon.,  torn. 
ii.  p.  407.)  If  this  fact  were  certain,  it  would  go  far  towards  ex- 
plaining the  peculiarity  which  I  have  mentioned.  But,  as  there 
are  some  English  acts  of  parliament  which,  according  to  the  re- 
mark of  the  learned  author  of  the  Observations  on  the  Statutes, 
chiefly  the  more  Ancient,  recite  falsehoods,  it  may  be  added  that 
this  is  not  peculiar  to  the  laws  of  that  country.  Notwithstanding 
the  positive  assertion  contained  in  this  public  law  of  France, 
there  is  good  reason  for  considering  it  as  a  statute  which  recites 
a  falsehood.  This,  however,  is  not  the  place  for  discussing  that 
point.  It  is  an  inquiry  not  unworthy  the  curiosity  of  an  English 
antiquary. 

In  Castile  the  pernicious  practice  of  private  war  prevailed,  and 


PROOFS  AND   ILLUSTRATIONS. 


279 


was  authorized  by  the  customs  and  law  of  the  kingdom.  (Leges 
Tauri,  tit.  76,  cum  commentario  Anton.  Gomezii,  p.  551.)  As  the 
Castilian  nobles  were  no  less  turbulent  than  powerful,  their  quarrels 
and  hostilities  involved  their  country  in  many  calamities.  In- 
numerable proofs  of  this  occur  in  Mariana.  In  Aragon  the  right 
of  private  revenge  was  likewise  authorized  by  law,  exercised  in  its 
full  extent,  and  accompanied  with  the  same  unhappy  consequences. 
(Hieron.  Blanca,  Comment,  cle  Rebus  Arag.,  ap.  Schotti  Hispan. 
illustrat.,  vol.  iii.  p.  733;  Lex  Jacobi  I.,  AD.  1247;  Fueros  y 
Observancias  del  Reyno  de  Aragon,  lib.  ix.  p.  182.)  Several 
confederacies  between  the  kings  of  Aragon  and  their  nobles  for 
the  restoring  of  peace,  founded  on  the  truce  of  God,  are  still 
extant.  (Petr.  de  Marca,  Marca,  sive  Limes  Hispanic.,  App., 
1303,  1388,  1428.)  As  early  as  the  year  1165  we  find  a  combina- 
tion of  the  king  and  court  of  Aragon  in  order  to  abolish  the  right 
of  private  war  and  to  punish  those  who  presumed  to  claim  that 
privilege.  (Anales  de  Aragon,  por  Zurita,  vol.  i.  p.  73.)  But  the 
evil  was  so  inveterate  that,  as  late  as  A.D.  1519,  Charles  V.  was 
obliged  to  publish  a  law  enforcing  all  former  regulations  tending 
to  suppress  this  practice.  Fueros  y  Observancias,  lib.  ix.  183,  b. 

The  Lombards,  and  other  Northern  nations  who  settled  in  Italy, 
introduced  the  same  maxims  concerning  the  right  of  revenge  into 
that  country,  and  these  were  followed  by  the  same  effects.  As  the 
progress  of  the  evil  was  perfectly  similar  to  what  happened  in 
France,  the  expedients  employed  to  check  its  career,  or  to  extir- 
pate it  finally,  resembled  those  which  I  have  enumerated.  Murat., 
Antiq.  Ital.,  vol.  ii.  p.  306,  etc. 

In  Germany  the  disorders  and  calamities  occasioned  by  the 
right  of  private  war  were  greater  and  more  intolerable  than  in 
any  other  country  of  Europe.  The  imperial  authority  was  so 
much  shaken  and  enfeebled  by  the  violence  of  the  civil  wars 
excited  by  the  contests  between  the  popes  and  the  emperors  of  the 
Franconian  and  Suabian  lines  that  not  only  the  nobility  but  the 
cities  acquired  almost  independent  power  and  scorned  all  subordi- 
nation and  obedience  to  the  laws.  The  frequency  of  these  faidce, 
or  private  wars,  is  often  mentioned  in  the  German  annals,  and  the 
fatal  effects  of  them  are  most  pathetically  described,  Datt.,  de  Pace 


28o  PROOFS  AND   ILLUSTRATIONS. 

Imper.  Pub.,  lib.  i.  cap.  5,  no.  30,  et  passim.  The  Germans  early 
adopted  the  Treuga  Dei,  which  was  first  established  in  France. 
This,  however,  proved  but  a  temporary  and  ineffectual  remedy. 
The  disorders  multiplied  so  fast  and  grew  to  be  so  enormous  that 
they  threatened  the  dissolution  of  society,  and  compelled  the  Ger- 
mans to  have  recourse  to  the  only  remedy  of  the  evil,  namely,  an 
absolute  prohibition  of  private  wars.  The  emperor  William  pub- 
lished his  edict  to  this  purpose,  A.D.  1255,  an  hundred  and  sixty 
years  previous  to  the  ordinance  of  Charles  VI.  in  France.  (Datt., 
lib.  i.  cap.  4,  no.  20.)  But  neither  he  nor  his  successors  had 
authority  to  secure  the  observance  of  it.  This  gave  rise  to  a 
practite  in  Germany  which  conveys  to  us  a  striking  idea  both  of 
the  intolerable  calamities  occasioned  by  private  wars,  and  of  the 
feebleness  of  government  during  the  twelfth  and  thirteenth  centu- 
ries. The  cities  and  nobles  entered  into  alliances  and  associations, 
by  which  they  bound  themselves  to  maintain  the  public  peace  and 
to  make  war  on  such  as  should  violate  it.  This  was  the  origin  of 
the  league  of  the  Rhine,  of  Suabia,  and  of  many  smaller  con- 
federacies distinguished  by  various  names.  The  rise,  progress, 
and  beneficial  effects  of  these  associations  are  traced  by  Datt  with 
great  accuracy.  Whatever  degree  of  public  peace  or  of  regular 
administration  was  preserved  in  the  empire  from  the  beginning 
of  the  twelfth  century  to  the  close  of  the  fifteenth,  Germany  owes 
to  these  leagues.  During  that  period,  political  order,  respect  for 
the  laws,  together  with  the  equal  administration  of  justice,  made 
considerable  progress  in  Germany.  But  the  final  and  perpetual 
abolition  of  the  right  of  private  war  was  not  accomplished  until 
A.D.  1495.  The  imperial  authority  was  by  that  time  more  firmly 
established,  the  ideas  of  men  with  respect  to  government  and 
subordination  were  become  more  just.  That  barbarous  and  per- 
nicious privilege  of  waging  private  war,  which  the  nobles  had  so 
long  possessed,  was  declared  to  be  incompatible  with  the  happiness 
and  existence  of  society.  In  order  to  terminate  any  differences 
which  might  arise  among  the  various  members  of  the  Germanic 
body,  the  Imperial  Chamber  was  instituted  with  supreme  jurisdic- 
tion, to  judge  without  appeal  in  every  question  brought  before  it. 
That  court  has  subsisted  since  that  period,  forming  a  very  respect- 


PROOFS  AND   ILLUSTRATIONS.  28l 

able  tribunal  of  essential  importance  in  the  German  constitution. 
Datt.,  lib.  iii.,  iv.,  v.;  Pfeffel,  Abrege  de  1'Histoire  du  Droit,  etc., 
P-  556. 

NOTE  XXII.— Sect.  I.  p.  62. 

It  would  be  tedious  and  of  little  use  to  enumerate  the  various 
modes  of  appealing  to  the  justice  of  God  which  superstition  intro- 
duced during  the  ages  of  ignorance.  I  shall  mention  only  one, 
because  we  have  an  account  of  it  in  a  placitum,  or  trial,  in  the 
presence  of  Charlemagne,  from  which  we  may  learn  the  imperfect 
manner  in  which  justice  was  administered  even  during  his  reign. 
In  the  year  775  a  contest  arose  between  the  bishop  of  Paris  and 
the  abbot  of  St.  Denys  concerning  the  property  of  a  small  abbey. 
Each  of  them  exhibited  deeds  and  records  in  order  to  prove  the 
right  to  be  in  them.  Instead  of  trying  the  authenticity  or  consid- 
ering the  import  of  these,  the  point  was  referred  to  the  judicium 
cruets.  Each  produced  a  person  who,  during  the  celebration  of 
mass,  stood  before  the  cross  with  his  arms  expanded ;  and  he 
whose  representative  first  became  weary  and  altered  his  posture 
lost  the  cause.  The  person  employed  by  the  bishop  on  this  occa- 
sion had  less  strength  or  less  spirit  than  his  adversary,  and  the 
question  was  decided  in  favor  of  the  abbot.  (Mabillon,  de  Re 
Diplomat.,  lib.  vi.  p.  498.)  If  a  prince  so  enlightened  as  Charle- 
magne countenanced  such  an  absurd  mode  of  decision,  it  is  no 
wonder  that  other  monarchs  should  tolerate  it  so  long.  M.  de 
Montesquieu  has  treated  of  the  trial  by  judicial  combat  at  con- 
siderable length.  The  two  talents  which  distinguish  that  illustrious 
author,  industry  in  tracing  all  the  circumstances  of  ancient  and 
obscure  institutions,  and  sagacity  in  penetrating  into  the  causes 
and  principles  which  contributed  to  establish  them,  are  equally 
conspicuous  in  his  observations  on  this  subject.  To  these  I  refer 
the  reader,  as  they  contain  most  of  the  principles  by  which  I  have 
endeavored  to  explain  this  practice.  (De  1'Esprit  des  Loix.,  liv. 
xxviii.)  It  seems  to  be  probable,  from  the  remarks  of  M.  de 
Montesquieu,  as  well  as  from  the  facts  produced  by  Muratori  (torn, 
iii.  Dissert.  XXXVIII.),  that  appeals  to  the  justice  of  God  by  the 
experiments  with  fire  and  water,  etc.,  were  frequent  among  the 
24* 


282  PROOFS  AND   ILLUSTRATIONS. 

people  who  settled  in  the  different  provinces  of  the  Roman  empire, 
before  they  had  recourse  to  the  judicial  combat ;  and  yet  the 
judicial  combat  seems  to  have  been  the  most  ancient  mode  of 
terminating  any  controversy  among  the  barbarous  nations  in  their 
original  settlements.  This  is  evident  from  Velleius  Paterculus 
(lib.  ii.  c.  118),  who  informs  us  that  all  questions  which  were 
decided  among  the  Romans  by  legal  trial  were  terminated  among 
the  Germans  by  arms.  The  same  thing  appears  in  the  ancient 
laws  and  customs  of  the  Swedes,  quoted  by  Jo.  O.  Stiernhook  de 
Jure  Sueonum  et  Gothorum  vetusto,  410,  Holmias,  1682,  lib.  i.  c.  7. 
It  is  probable  that  when  the  various  tribes  which  invaded  the 
empire  were  converted  to  Christianity  their  ancient  custom  of 
allowing  judicial  combats  appeared  so  glaringly  repugnant  to  the 
precepts  of  religion  that  for  some  time  it  was  abolished,  and  by 
degrees  several  circumstances  which  I  have  mentioned  led  them 
to  resume  it. 

It  seems  likewise  to  be  probable,  from  a  law  quoted  by  Stiern- 
hook in  the  treatise  which  I  have  mentioned,  that  the  judicial 
combat  was  originally  permitted  in  order  to  determine  points 
respecting  the  personal  character  or  reputation  of  individuals,  and 
was  afterwards  extended  not  only  to  criminal  cases,  but  to  ques- 
tions concerning  property.  The  words  of  the  law  are,  "  If  any 
man  shall  say  to  another  these  reproachful  words,  '  You  are  not  a 
man  equal  to  other  men,'  or,  « You  have  not  the  heart  of  a  man,' 
and  the  other  shall  reply,  '  I  am  a  man  as  goo'd  as  you,'  let  them 
meet  on  the  highway.  If  he  who  first  gave  offence  appear,  and 
the  person  offended  absent  himself,  let  the  latter  be  deemed  a 
worse  man  even  than  he  was  called ;  let  him  not  be  admitted  to 
give  evidence  in  judgment  either  for  man  or  woman,  and  let  him 
not  have  the  privilege  of  making  a  testament.  If  he  who  gave 
the  offence  be  absent,  and  only  the  person  offended  appear,  let 
him  call  upon  the  other  thrice  with  a  loud  voice,  and  make  a 
mark  upon  the  earth,  and  then  let  him  who  absented  himself  be 
deemed  infamous,  because  he  uttered  words  which  he  durst  not 
support.  If  both  shall  appear  properly  armed,  and  the  person 
offended  shall  fall  in  the  combat,  let  a  half  compensation  be  paid 
for  his  death.  But  if  the  person  who  gave  the  offence  shall  fall, 


PROOFS  AND   ILLUSTRATIONS.  283 

let  it  be  imputed  to  his  own  rashness.  The  petulance  of  his 
tongue  hath  been  fatal  to  him.  Let  him  lie  in  the  field  without 
any  compensation  being  demanded  for  his  death."  (Lex  Up- 
landica,  ap.  Stiern.,  p.  76.)  Martial  people  were  extremely  deli- 
cate with  respect  to  every  thing  that  affected  their  reputation  as 
soldiers.  By  the  law  of  the  Salians,  if  any  man  called  another  a 
hare,  or  accused  him  of  having  left  his  shield  in  the  field  of 
battle,  he  was  ordained  to  pay  a  large  fine.  (Leg.  Sal.,  tit.  xxxii. 
$§4,  6.)  By  the  law  of  the  Lombards,  if  any  one  called  another 
arga,  i.e.,  a  good-for-nothing  fellow,  he  might  immediately  chal- 
lenge him  to  combat.  (Leg.  Longob.,  lib.  i.  tit.  v.  $  i.)  By  the 
law  of  the  Salians,  if  one  called  another  cenitus,  a  term  of  re- 
proach equivalent  to  arga,  he  was  bound  to  pay  a  very  high  fine. 
(Tit.  xxxii.  §  i.)  Paul  us  Diaconus  relates  the  violent  impression 
which  this  reproachful  expression  made  upon  one  of  his  country- 
men, and  the  fatal  effects  with  which  it  was  attended.  (De 
Gestis  Longobard.,  liv.  vi.  c.  34.)  Thus  the  ideas  concerning  the 
point  of  honor,  which  we  are  apt  to  consider  as  a  modern  refine- 
ment, as  well  as  the  practice  of  duelling,  to  which  it  gave  rise, 
are  derived  from  the  notions  of  our  ancestors  while  in  a  state  of 
society  very  little  improved. 

As  M.  de  Montesquieu's  view  of  this  subject  did  not  lead  him 
to  consider  every  circumstance  relative  to  judicial  combats,  I  shall 
mention  some  particular  facts  necessary  for  the  illustration  of  what 
I  have  said  with  respect  to  them.  A  remarkable  instance  occurs 
of  the  decision  of  an  abstract  point  of  law  by  combat.  A  ques- 
tion arose  in  the  tenth  century  concerning  the  right  of  representa- 
tion, which  was  not  then  fixed,  though  now  universally  established 
in  every  part  of  Europe.  "  It  was  a  matter  of  doubt  and  dis- 
pute," saith  the  historian,  "whether  the  sons  of  a  son  ought  to  be 
reckoned  among  the  children  of  the  family,  and  succeed  equally 
with  their  uncles,  if  their  father  happen  to  die  while  their  grand- 
father was  alive.  An  assembly  was  called  to  deliberate  on  this 
point,  and  it  was  the  general  opinion  that  it  ought  to  be  remitted 
to  the  examination  and  decision  of  judges.  But  the  emperor,  fol- 
lowing a  better  course,  and  desirous  of  dealing  honorably  with  his 
people  and  nobles,  appointed  the  matter  to  be  decided  by  battle 


284  PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

between  two  champions.  He  who  appeared  in  behalf  of  the  right 
of  children  to  represent  their  deceased  father  was  victorious ;  and 
it  was  established,  by  a  perpetual  decree,  that  they  should  here- 
after share  in  the  inheritance  together  with  their  uncles."  (Witti- 
kindus  Corbiensis,  lib.  Annal.,  ap.  M.  de  Lauriere,  Pref.  Ordon., 
vol.  i.  p.  xxxiii.)  If  we  can  suppose  the  caprice  of  folly  to  lead 
men  to  any  action  more  extravagant  than  this  of  settling  a  point 
in  law  by  combat,  it  must  be  that  of  referring  the  truth  or  false- 
hood of  a  religious  opinion  to  be  decided  in  the  same  manner. 
To  the  disgrace  of  human  reason,  it  has  been  capable  even  of  this 
extravagance.  A  question  was  agitated  in  Spain  in  the  eleventh 
century,  whether  the  Musarabic  liturgy  and  ritual  which  had  been 
used  in  the  churches  of  Spain,  or  that  approved  of  by  the  see  of 
Rome,  which  differed  in  many  particulars  from  the  other,  con- 
tained the  form  of  worship  most  acceptable  to  the  Deity.  The 
Spaniards  contended  zealously  for  the  ritual  of  their  ancestors. 
The  popes  urged  them  to  receive  that  to  which  they  had  given  their 
infallible  sanction.  A  violent  contest  arose.  The  nobles  pro- 
posed to  decide  the  controversy  by  the  sword.  The  king  approved 
of  this  method  of  decision.  Two  knights  in  complete  armor 
entered  the  lists.  John  Ruys  de  Matanca,  the  champion  of  the 
Musarabic  liturgy,  was  victorious.  But  the  queen  and  archbishop 
of  Toledo,  who  favored  the  other  form,  insisted  on  having  the 
matter  submitted  to  another  trial,  and  had  interest  enough  to 
prevail  in  a  request,  inconsistent  with  the  laws  of  combat,  which 
being  considered  as  an  appeal  to  God,  the  decision  ought  to  have 
been  acquiesced  in  as  final.  A  great  fire  was  kindled.  A  copy 
of  each  liturgy  was  cast  into  the  flames.  It  was  agreed  that  the 
book  which  stood  this  proof  and  remained  untouched  should  be 
received  in  all  the  churches  of  Spain.  The  Musarabic  liturgy 
triumphed  likewise  in  this  trial,  and,  if  we  may  believe  Roderigo 
de  Toledo,  remained  unhurt  by  the  fire  when  the  other  was 
reduced  to  ashes.  The  queen  and  archbishop  had  power  or  art 
sufficient  to  elude  this  decision  also,  and  the  use  of  the  Musarabic 
form  of  devotion  was  permitted  only  in  certain  churches, — a 
determination  no  less  extraordinary  than  the  whole  transaction. 
(Roder.  de  Toledo,  quoted  by  P.  Orleans,  Hist,  des  Revolutions 


PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS.  285 

d'Espagne,  torn.  i.  p.  417;  Mariana,  lib.  i.  c.  18,  vol.  i.  p.  378.) 
A  remarkable  proof  of  the  general  use  of  trial  by  combat,  and  of 
the  predilection  for  that  mode  of  decision,  occurs  in  the  laws  of  the 
Lombards.  It  was  a  custom  in  the  Middle  Ages  that  any  person 
might  signify  publicly  the  law  to  which  he  chose  to  be  subjected ; 
and  by  the  prescriptions  of  that  law  he  was  obliged  to  regulate  his 
transactions,  without  being  bound  to  comply  with  any  practice 
authorized  by  other  codes  of  law.  Persons  who  had  subjected 
themselves  to  the  Roman  law,  and  adhered  to  the  ancient  juris- 
prudence, as  far  as  any  knowledge  of  it  was  retained  in  those 
ages  of  ignorance,  were  exempted  from  paying  any  regard  to  the 
forms  of  proceedings  established  by  the  laws  of  the  Burgundians, 
Lombards,  and  other  barbarous  people.  But  the  emperor  Otho, 
in  direct  contradiction  to  this  received  maxim,  ordained  "  That 
all  persons,  under  whatever  law  they  lived,  even  although  it  were 
the  Roman  law,  should  be  bound  to  conform  to  the  edicts  con- 
cerning the  trial  by  combat."  (Leg.  Longob.,  lib.  ii.  tit.  55,  \ 
38.)  While  the  trial  by  judicial  combat  subsisted,  proof  by  char- 
ters, contracts,  or  other  deeds  became  ineffectual ;  and  even  this 
species  of  written  evidence,  calculated  to  render  the  proceedings 
of  courts  certain  and  decisive,  was  eluded.  When  a  charter  or 
other  instrument  was  produced  by  one  of  the  parties,  his  oppo- 
nent might  challenge  it,  affirm  that  it  was  false  and  forged,  and 
offer  to  prove  this  by  combat.  (Leg.  Longob.,  ibid.,  \  34.)  It  is 
true  that,  among  the  reasons  enumerated  by  Beaumanoir  on  ac- 
count of  which  judges  might  refuse  to  permit  a  trial  by  combat, 
one  is,  "  If  the  point  in  contest  can  be  clearly  proved  or  ascer- 
tained by  other  evidence."  (Coust.  de  Beauv.,  ch.  63,  p.  323.) 
But  that  regulation  removed  the  evil  only  a  single  step.  For  the 
party  who  suspected  that  a  witness  was  about  to  depose  in  a  man- 
ner unfavorable  to  his  cause  might  accuse  him  of  being  suborned, 
give  him  the  lie,  and  challenge  him  to  combat :  if  the  witness 
was  vanquished  in  battle,  no  other  evidence  could  be  admitted, 
and  the  party  by  whom  he  was  summoned  to  appear  lost  his  cause. 
(Leg.  Baivar.,  tit.  16,  §  2;  Leg.  Burgund.,  tit.  45  ;  Beauman.,  ch. 
61,  p.  315.)  The  reason  given  for  obliging  a  witness  to  accept 
of  a  defiance,  and  to  defend  himself  by  combat,  is  remarkable, 


286  PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

and  contains  the  same  idea  which  is  still  the  foundation  of  what 
is  called  the  point  of  honor:  "for  it  is  just  that  if  any  one  affirms 
that  he  perfectly  knows  the  truth  of  any  thing,  and  offers  to  give 
oath  upon  it,  he  should  not  hesitate  to  maintain  the  veracity  of  his 
affirmation  in  combat."  Leg.  Burgund.,  tit.  45. 

That  the  trial  by  judicial  combat  was  established  in  every 
country  of  Europe  is  a  fact  well  known,  and  requires  no  proof. 
That  this  mode  of  decision  was  frequent  appears  not  only  from 
the  codes  of  ancient  laws  which  established  it,  but  from  the  ear- 
liest writers  concerning  the  practice  of  law  in  the  different  nations 
of  Europe.  They  treat  of  this  custom  at  great  length ;  they  enu- 
merate" the  regulations  concerning  it  with  minute  accuracy  and 
explain  them  with  much  solicitude.  It  made  a  capital  and  ex- 
tensive article  in  jurisprudence.  There  is  not  any  one  subject  in 
their  system  of  law  which  Beaumanoir,  Defontaines,  or  the  com- 
pilers of  the  Assises  de  Jerusalem  seem  to  have  considered  as  of 
greater  importance;  and  none  upon  which  they  have  bestowed 
so  much  attention.  The  same  observation  will  hold  with  respect 
to  the  early  authors  of  other  nations.  It  appears  from  Madox 
that  trials  of  this  kind  were  so  frequent  in  England  that  fines  paid 
on  these  occasions  made  no  inconsiderable  branch  of  the  king's 
revenue.  (Hist,  of  the  Excheq.,  vol.  i.  p.  349.)  A  very  curious 
account  of  a  judicial  combat  between  Messire  Robert  de  Beau- 
manoir and  Messire  Pierre  Tournemine,  in  presence  of  the  duke 
of  Bretagne,  A.D.  1385,  is  published  by  Morice.(Mem.  pour  servir 
de  Preuves  a  1'Hist.  de  Bretagne,  torn.  ii.  p.  498.)  All  the  for- 
malities observed  in  such  extraordinary  proceedings  are  there 
described  more  minutely  than  in  any  ancient  monument  which  I 
have  had  an  opportunity  of  considering.  Tournemine  was  accused 
by  Beaumanoir  of  having  murdered  his  brother.  The  former  was 
vanquished,  but  was  saved  from  being  hanged  upon  the  spot  by 
the  generous  intercession  of  his  antagonist.  A  good  account  of 
the  origin  of  the  laws  concerning  judicial  combat  is  published  in 
the  History  of  Pavia,  by  Bernardo  Sacci,  lib.  ix.  c.  8,  in  Grsev. 
Thes.  Antiquit.  Ital.,  vol.  iii.  p.  743. 

This  mode  of  trial  was  so  acceptable  that  ecclesiastics,  notwith- 
standing the  prohibitions  of  the  Church,  were  constrained  not  only 


PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS.  287 

to  connive  at  the  practice,  but  to  authorize  it.  A  remarkable  in- 
stance of  this  is  produced  by  Pasquier,  Recherches,  lib.  iv.  ch.  i. 
p.  350.  The  abbot  Wittikindus,  whose  words  I  have  produced 
in  this  note,  considered  the  determination  of  a  point  in  law  by 
combat  as  the  best  and  most  honorable  mode  of  decision.  In  the 
year  978  a  judicial  combat  was  fought  in  the  presence  of  the 
emperor.  The  archbishop  Aldebert  advised  him  to  terminate  a 
contest  which  had  arisen  between  two  noblemen  of  his  court  by 
this  mode  of  decision.  The  vanquished  combatant,  though  a 
person  of  high  rank,  was  beheaded  on  the  spot.  (Chronic.  Dit- 
mari,  Episc.  Mersb.,  apud  Bouquet,  Recueil  des  Hist.,  torn.  x.  p. 
121.)  Questions  concerning  the  property  of  churches  and  monas- 
teries were  decided  by  combat.  In  the  year  961  a  controversy 
concerning  the  church  of  St.  Medard,  whether  it  belonged  to  the 
abbey  of  Beaulieu  or  not,  was  terminated  by  judicial  combat. 
(Bouquet,  Recueil  des  Hist,  torn.  ix.  p.  729;  ibid.,  p.  612,  etc.) 
The  emperor  Henry  I.  declares  that  this  law,  authorizing  the 
practice  of  judicial  combats,  was  enacted  with  consent  and  ap- 
plause of  many  faithful  bishops.  (Ibid.,  p.  231.)  So  remarkably 
did  the  martial  ideas  of  those  ages  prevail  over  the  genius  and 
maxims  of  the  canon  law,  which  in  other  instances  was  in  the 
highest  credit  and  authority  with  ecclesiastics.  A  judicial  combat 
was  appointed  in  Spain,  by  Charles  VM  A.D.  1522.  The  com- 
batants fought  in  the  emperor's  presence,  and  the  battle  was  con- 
ducted with  all  the  rites  prescribed  by  the  ancient  laws  of  chivalry. 
The  whole  transaction  is  described  at  great  length  by  Pontus 
Heuterus,  Rer.  Austriac.,  lib.  viii.  c.  17,  p.  205. 

The  last  instance  which  occurs  in  the  history  of  France  of  a 
judicial  combat  authorized  by  the  magistrate  was  the  famous  one 
between  M.  Jarnac  and  M.  de  la  Chaistaignerie,  A.D.  1547.  A 
trial  by  combat  was  appointed  in  England,  A.D.  1571,  under  the 
inspection  of  the  judges  in  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas;  and 
though  it  was  not  carried  to  the  same  extremity  with  the  former, 
Queen  Elizabeth  having  interposed  her  authority  and  enjoined  the 
parties  to  compound  the  matter,  yet,  in  order  to  preserve  their 
honor,  the  lists  were  marked  out,  and  all  the  forms  previous  to 
the  combat  were  observed  with  much  ceremony.  (Spelm.,  Gloss., 


288  PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

voc.  Campus,  p.  103.)  In  the  year  1631  a  judicial  combat  was 
appointed  between  Donald  Lord  Rea  and  David  Ramsay,  Esq., 
by  the  authority  of  the  lord  high  constable  and  earl  marshal  of 
England ;  but  that  quarrel  likewise  terminated  without  bloodshed, 
being  accommodated  by  Charles  I.  Another  instance  occurs 
seven  years  later.  Rushworth,  in  Observations  on  the  Statutes, 
etc.,  p.  266. 

NOTE  XXIII.— Sect.  I.  p.  68. 

The  text  contains  the  great  outlines  which  mark  the  course  of 
private  and  public  jurisdiction  in  the  several  nations  of  Europe. 
I  shall  here  follow  more  minutely  the  various  steps  of  this  pro- 
gress, as  the  matter  is  curious  and  important  enough  to  merit  this 
attention.  The  payment  of  a  fine  by  way  of  satisfaction  to  the 
person  or  family  injured  was  the  first  device  of  a  rude  people  in 
order  to  check  the  career  of  private  resentment,  and  to  extin- 
guish those  f aides,  or  deadly  feuds,  which  were  prosecuted  among 
them  with  the  utmost  violence.  This  custom  may  be  traced  back 
to  the  ancient  Germans  (Tacit.,  de  Morib.  Germ.,  c.  21),  and  pre- 
vailed among  other  uncivilized  nations.  Many  examples  of  this 
are  collected  by  the  ingenious  and  learned  author  of  Historical 
Law  Tracts  (vol.  i.  p.  41).  These  fines  were  ascertained  and 
levied  in  three  different  manners.  At  first  they  were  settled  by 
voluntary  agreement  between  the  parties  at  variance.  When  their 
rage  began  to  subside,  and  they  felt  the  bad  effects  of  their  con- 
tinuing in  enmity,  they  came  to  terms  of  concord,  and  the  satis- 
faction made  was  called  a  composition,  implying  that  it  was  fixed 
by  mutual  consent.  (De  1'Esprit  des  Loix,  liv.  xxx.  c.  19.)  It  is 
apparent  from  some  of  the  more  ancient  codes  of  laws  that  at  the 
time  when  these  were  compiled  matters  still  remained  in  that 
simple  state.  In  certain  cases  the  person  who  had  committed  an 
offence  was  left  exposed  to  the  resentment  of  those  whom  he  had 
injured,  until  he  should  recover  their  favor,  "quoquo  modo  potu- 
erit."  (Leg.  Frision.,  tit.  n,  \  I.)  The  next  mode  of  levying 
these  fines  was  by  the  sentence  of  arbiters.  An  arbiter  is  called 
in  the  Regiam  Majestatem  amicabilis  compositor  (lib.  xi.  c.  4,  \ 
10.)  He  could  estimate  the  degree  of  offence  with  more  impar- 


PROOFS  AND   ILLUSTRATIONS. 


289 


tiality  than  the  parties  interested,  and  determine  with  greater 
equity  what  satisfaction  ought  to  be  demanded.  It  is  difficult  to 
bring  an  authentic  proof  of  a  custom  previous  to  the  records 
preserved  in  any  nation  of  Europe.  But  one  of  the  Formulae 
Andegavenses  compiled  in  the  sixth  century  seems  to  allude  to  a 
transaction  carried  on,  not  by  the  authority  of  a  judge,  but  by 
the  mediation  of  arbiters  chosen  by  mutual  consent.  (Bouquet, 
Recueil  des  Histor.,  torn.  iv.  p.  566.)  But,  as  an  arbiter  wanted 
authority  to  enforce  his  decisions,  judges  were  appointed  with 
compulsive  power  to  oblige  both  parties  to  acquiesce  in  their  de- 
cisions. Previous  to  this  last  step,  the  expedient  of  paying  com- 
positions was  an  imperfect  remedy  against  the  pernicious  effects 
of  private  resentment.  As  soon  as  this  important  change  was  in- 
troduced, the  magistrate,  putting  himself  in  place  of  the  person 
injured,  ascertained  the  composition  with  which  he  ought  to  rest 
satisfied.  Every  possible  injury  that  could  occur  in  the  intercourse 
of  civil  society  was  considered,  and  estimated,  and  the  composi- 
tions due  to  the  person  aggrieved  were  fixed  with  such  minute 
attention  as  discovers,  in  most  cases,  amazing  discernment  and 
delicacy,  in  some  instances  unaccountable  caprice.  Besides  the 
composition  payable  to  the  private  party,  a  certain  sum,  called  a 
fredntn,  was  paid  to  the  king  or  state,  as  Tacitus  expresses  it,  or 
to  the  fiscus,  in  the  language  of  the  barbarous  laws.  Some  authors, 
blending  the  refined  ideas  of  modern  policy  with  their  reasonings 
concerning  ancient  transactions,  have  imagined  that  the  fredum 
was  a  compensation  due  to  the  community  on  account  of  the  vio- 
lation of  the  public  peace.  But  it  is  manifestly  nothing  more  than 
the  price  paid  to  the  magistrate  for  the  protection  which  he  afforded 
against  the  violence  of  resentment.  The  enacting  of  this  was  a 
considerable  step  towards  improvement  in  criminal  jurisprudence. 
In  some  of  the  more  ancient  codes  of  laws  \\\z  freda  are  altogether 
omitted,  or  so  seldom  mentioned  that  it  is  evident  they  were  but 
little  known.  In  the  latter  codes  \\\e  fredum  is  as  precisely  speci- 
fied as  the  composition.  In  common  cases  it  was  equal  to  the 
third  part  of  the  composition.  (Capitul.,  vol.  i.  p.  52.)  In  some 
extraordinary  cases,  where  it  was  more  difficult  to  protect  the 
person  who  had  committed  violence,  the  fredum  was  augmented. 
Charles.— VOL.  I. — N  25 


290 


PROOFS  AND   ILLUSTRATIONS. 


(Capitul.,  vol.  i.  p.  515.)  These  freda  made  a  considerable  branch 
in  the  revenues  of  the  barons ;  and  in  whatever  district  territorial 
jurisdiction  was  granted,  the  royal  judges  were  prohibited  from 
levying  any  freda.  In  explaining  the  nature  of  \\\z  fredum,  I  have 
followed  in  a  great  measure  the  opinion  of  M.  de  Montesquieu, 
though  I  know  that  several  learned  antiquaries  have  taken  the 
word  in  a  different  sense.  (De  1'Esprit  des  Loix,  liv.  xxx.  c.  20, 
etc.)  The  great  object  of  judges  was  to  compel  the  one  party  to 
give,  and  the  other  to  accept,  the  satisfaction  prescribed.  They 
multiplied  regulations  to  this  purpose,  and  enforced  them  by  griev- 
ous penalties.  (Leg.  Longob.,  lib.  i.  tit.  9,  \  34;  Ibid.,  tit.  37, 
\\  l,  2;  Capitul.,  vol.  i.  p.  371,  \  22.)  The  person  who  received 
a  composition  was  obliged  to  cease  from  all  further  hostility,  and 
to  confirm  his  reconciliation  with  the  adverse  party  by  an  oath. 
(Leg.  Longob.,  lib.  i.  tit.  9,  \  8.)  As  an  additional  and  more 
permanent  evidence  of  reconciliation,  he  was  required  to  grant  a 
bond  of  security  to  the  person  from  whom  he  received  a  com- 
position, absolving  him  from  all  further  prosecution.  Marculfus, 
and  the  other  collectors  of  ancient  writs,  have  preserved  several 
different  forms  of  such  bonds.  (Marc.,  lib.  xi.  §  18;  Append.,  $ 
23;  Form.  Sirmondicse,  \  39.)  The  letters  of  Slanes,  known  in 
the  law  of  Scotland,  are  perfectly  similar  to  these  bonds  of  security. 
By  the  letters  of  Slanes,  the  heirs  and  relations  of  a  person  who 
had  been  murdered  bound  themselves,  in  consideration  of  an  as- 
sythment,  or  composition  paid  to  them,  to  forgive,  "  pass  over,  and 
forever  forget,  and  in  oblivion  inter,  all  rancor,  malice,  revenge, 
prejudice,  grudge,  and  resentment  that  they  have  or  may  conceive 
against  the  aggressor  or  his  posterity,  for  the  crime  which  he  had 
committed,  and  discharge  him  of  all  action,  civil  or  criminal, 
against  him  or  his  estate,  for  now  and  ever."  (System  of  Stiles, 
by  Dallas  of  St.  Martin's,  p.  862.)  In  the  ancient  form  of  letters 
of  Slanes,  the  private  party  not  only  forgives  and  forgets,  but  par- 
dons and  grants  remission  of  the  crime.  This  practice  Dallas, 
reasoning  according  to  the  principles  of  his  own  age,  considers  as 
an  encroachment  on  the  rights  of  sovereignty,  as  none,  says  he, 
could  pardon  a  criminal  but  the  king.  (Ibid.)  But  in  early  and 
rude  times  the  prosecution,  the  punishment,  and  the  pardon  of 


PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


291 


criminals  were  all  deeds  of  the  private  person  who  was  injured. 
Madox  has  published  two  writs,  one  in  the  reign  of  Edward  I., 
the  other  in  the  reign  of  Edward  III.,  by  which  private  persons 
grant  a  release  or  pardon  of  all  trespasses,  felonies,  robberies,  and 
murders  committed.  (Formul.  Anglican.,  no.  7°2>  7°5-)  ^n  *ne 
last  of  these  instruments,  some  regard  seems  to  be  paid  to  the 
rights  of  the  sovereign,  for  the  pardon  is  granted  en  quant  que  en 
nous  est.  Even  after  the  authority  of  the  magistrate  was  inter- 
posed in  punishing  crimes,  the  punishment  of  criminals  is  long 
considered  chiefly  as  a  gratification  to  the  resentment  of  the 
persons  who  have  been  injured.  In  Persia  a  murderer  is  still 
delivered  to  the  relations  of  the  person  whom  he  has  slain, 
who  put  him  to  death  with  their  own  hands.  If  they  refuse 
to  accept  of  a  sum  of  money  as  a  compensation,  the  sovereign, 
absolute  as  he  is,  cannot  pardon  the  murderer.  (Voyages  de 
Chardin,  iii.  417,  edit.  1735,  4to;  Voyages  de  Tavernier,  liv.  v. 
c.  5>  IO-)  Among  the  Arabians,  though  one  of  the  first  polished 
people  in  the  East,  the  same  custom  still  subsists.  (Description 
de  1'Arabie,  par  M.  Niebuhr,  p.  28.)  By  a  law  in  the  kingdom 
of  Aragon  as  late  as  the  year  1564,  the  punishment  of  one  con- 
demned to  death  cannot  be  mitigated  but  by  consent  of  the  parties 
who  have  been  injured.  Fueros  y  Observancias  del  Reyno  de 
Aragon,  p.  204,  6. 

If,  after  all  the  engagements  to  cease  from  enmity  which  I  have 
mentioned,  any  person  renewed  hostilities,  and  was  guilty  of  any 
violence,  either  towards  the  person  from  whom  he  had  received 
a  composition,  or  towards  his  relations  and  heirs,  this  was  deemed 
a  most  heinous  crime,  and  punished  with  extraordinary  rigor.  It 
was  an  act  of  direct  rebellion  against  the  authority  of  the  magis- 
trate, and  was  repressed  by  the  interposition  of  all  his  power. 
(Leg.  Longob.,  lib.  i.  tit.  9,  §  8,  p.  34;  Capit.,  vol.  i.  p.  371,  \  22.) 
Thus  the  avenging  of  injuries  was  taken  out  of  private  hands,  a 
legal  composition  was  established,  and  peace  and  amity  were 
restored  under  the  inspection  and  by  the  authority  of  a  judge.  It 
is  evident  that  at  the  time  when  the  barbarians  settled  in  the  prov- 
inces of  the  Roman  empire  they  had  fixed  judges  established 
among  them  with  compulsive  authority.  Persons  vested  with  this 


292 


PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


character  are  mentioned  by  the  earliest  historians.  (Du  Cange, 
voc.  Judices.)  The  right  of  territorial  jurisdiction  was  not  alto- 
gether an  usurpation  of  the  feudal  barons,  or  an  invasion  of  the 
prerogative  of  the  sovereign.  There  is  good  reason  to  believe 
that  the  powerful  leaders  who  seized  different  districts  of  the 
countries  which  they  conquered,  and  kept  possession  of  them  as 
allodial  property,  assumed  from  the  beginning  the  right  of  jurisdic- 
tion, and  exercised  it  within  their  own  territories.  This  jurisdiction 
was  supreme,  and  extended  to  all  causes.  The  clearest  proofs  of 
this  are  produced  by  M.  Bouquet,  Le  Droit  publique  de  France 
eclairci,  etc.,  torn.  i.  p.  206,  etc.  The  privilege  of  judging  his 
ow»"vassals  appears  to  have  been  originally  a  right  inherent  in 
every  baron  who  held  a  fief.  As  far  back  as  the  archives  of 
nations  can  conduct  us  with  any  certainty,  we  find  the  jurisdiction 
and  fief  united.  One  of  the  earliest  charters  to  a  layman  which  I 
have  met  with  is  that  of  Ludovicus  Pius,  A.D.  814;  and  it  contains 
the  right  of  territorial  jurisdiction  in  the  most  express  and  extensive 
terms.  (Capitul.,  vol.  ii.  p.  1405.)  There  are  many  charters  to 
churches  and  monasteries  of  a  more  early  date,  containing  grants 
of  similar  jurisdiction,  and  prohibiting  any  royal  judge  to  enter 
the  territories  of  those  churches  or  monasteries  or  to  perform  any 
act  of  judicial  authority  there.  (Bouquet,  Recueil  des  Hist.,  torn, 
iv.  pp.  628,  631,  633,  torn.  v.  pp.  703,  710,  752,  762.)  Muratori 
has  published  many  veiy  ancient  charters  containing  the  same 
immunities.  (Antiq.  Ital.,  Dissert.  LXX.) '  In  most  of  these 
deeds  the  royal  judge  is  prohibited  from  exacting  the  freda  due 
to  the  possessor  of  territorial  jurisdiction,  which  shows  that  they 
constituted  a  valuable  part  of  the  revenue  of  each  superior  lord  at 
that  juncture.  The  expense  of  obtaining  a  sentence  in  a  court 
of  justice  during  the  Middle  Ages  was  so  considerable  that  this 
circumstance  alone  was  sufficient  to  render  men  unwilling  to 
decide  any  contest  in  judicial  form.  It  appears  from  a  charter  in 
the  thirteenth  century  that  the  baron  who  had  the  right  of  justice 
received  the  fifth  part  of  the  value  of  every  subject  the  property 
of  which  was  tried  and  determined  in  his  court.  If  after  the 
commencement  of  a  lawsuit  the  parties  terminated  the  contest  in 
an  amicable  manner,  or  by  arbitration,  they  were  nevertheless 


PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


293 


bound  to  pay  the  fifth  part  of  the  subject  contested  to  the  court 
before  which  the  suit  had  been  brought.  (Hist,  de  Dauphine, 
Geneve,  1722,  torn.  i.  p.  22.)  Similar  to  this  is  a  regulation  in 
the  charter  of  liberty  granted  to  the  town  of  Friburg,  A.D.  1120. 
If  two  of  the  citizens  shall  quarrel,  and  if  one  of  them  shall 
complain  to  the  superior  lord  or  to  his  judge,  and  after  com- 
mencing the  suit  shall  be  privately  reconciled  to  his  adversary, 
the  judge,  if  he  does  not  approve  of  this  reconciliation,  may 
compel  him  to  go  on  with  his  lawsuit,  and  all  who  were  present 
at  the  reconciliation  shall  forfeit  the  favor  of  the  superior  lord. 
Historia  Zaringo-Badensis,  Auctor.  Jo.  Dan.  Schoepflinus,  Carolsr., 
1765,  410,  vol.  v.  p.  55. 

What  was  the  extent  of  that  jurisdiction  which  those  who  held 
fiefs  possessed  originally  we  cannot  now  determine  with  certainty. 
It  is  evident  that  during  the  disorders  which  prevailed  in  every 
kingdom  of  Europe  the  great  vassals  took  advantage  of  the  feeble- 
ness of  their  monarchs  and  enlarged  their  jurisdictions  to  the 
utmost.  As  early  as  the  tenth  century  the  more  powerful  barons 
had  usurped  the  right  of  deciding  all  causes,  whether  civil  or 
criminal.  They  had  acquired  the  high  justice  as  well  as  the  low. 
(Establ.  de  St.  Louis,  liv.  i.  c.  24,  25.)  Their  sentences  were 
final,  and  there  lay  no  appeal  from  them  to  any  superior  court. 
Several  striking  instances  of  this  are  collected  by  Brussel  (Traite 
des  Fiefs,  liv.  iii.  c.  u,  12,  13).  Not  satisfied  with  this,  the  more 
potent  barons  got  their  territories  created  into  regalities,  with 
almost  every  royal  prerogative  and  jurisdiction.  Instances  of 
these  were  frequent  in  France.  (Bruss.,  ibid.)  In  Scotland, 
where  the  power  of  the  feudal  nobles  became  exorbitant,  they 
were  very  numerous.  (Historical  Law  Tracts,  vol.  i.  tract  vi.) 
Even  in  England,  though  the  authority  of  the  Norman  kings 
circumscribed  the  jurisdiction  of  the  barons  within  more  narrow 
limits  than  in  any  other  feudal  kingdom,  several  counties  palatine 
were  erected,  into  which  the  king's  judges  could  not  enter,  and 
no  writ  could  come  in  the  king's  name  until  it  received  the  seal 
of  the  county  palatine.  (Spelman,  Gloss.,  voc.  Comites  Palatini  ; 
Blackstone's  Commentaries  on  the  Laws  of  England,  vol.  iii.  p. 
78.)  These  lords  of  regalities  had  a  right  to  claim  or  rescue  their 
25* 


294 


PROOFS  AND   ILLUSTRATIONS. 


vassals  from  the  king's  judges,  if  they  assumed  any  jurisdiction 
over  them.  (Brussel,  ubi  supra.)  In  the  law  of  Scotland,  this 
privilege  was  termed  the  right  of  repledging ;  and  the  frequency 
of  it  not  only  interrupted  the  course  of  justice,  but  gave  rise  to 
great  disorders  in  the  exercise  of  it.  (Hist.  Law  Tracts,  ibid.) 
The  jurisdiction  of  the  counties  palatine  seems  to  have  been  pro- 
ductive of  like  inconveniences  in  England. 

The  remedies  provided  by  princes  against  the  bad  effects  of 
these  usurpations  of  the  nobles,  or  inconsiderate  grants  of  the 
crown,  were  various  and  gradually  applied.  Under  Charlemagne 
and  hjs  immediate  descendants,  the  regal  prerogative  still  retained 
great  vigor,  and  the  duces,  comites,  and  missi  dominici,  the  former 
of  whom  were  ordinary  and  fixed  judges,  the  latter  extraordinary 
and  itinerant  judges,  in  the  different  provinces  of  their  extensive 
dominions,  exercised  a  jurisdiction  co-ordinate  with  the  barons  in 
some  cases,  and  superior  to  them  in  others.  (Du  Cange,  voc.  Dux, 
Comites,  et  Missi;  Murat.,  Antiq.,  Dissert.  VIII.  et  IX.)  But  under 
the  feeble  race  of  monarchs  who  succeeded  them,  the  authority  of 
the  royal  judges  declined,  and  the  barons  acquired  that  unlimited 
jurisdiction  which  has  been  described.  Louis  VI.  of  France 
attempted  to  revive  the  function  of  the  missi  dominici,  under  the 
title  of  juges  des  exempts,  but  the  barons  were  become  too  power- 
ful to  bear  such  an  encroachment  on  their  jurisdiction,  and  he  was 
obliged  to  desist  from  employing  them.  (Hainault,  Abrege  Chron., 
torn.  ii.  p.  730.)  His  successor  (as  has  been  observed)  had  recourse 
to  expedients  less  alarming.  The  appeal  de  defante  de  droit,  or  on 
account  of  the  refusal  of  justice,  was  the  first  which  was  attended 
with  any  considerable  effect.  According  to  the  maxims  of  feudal 
law,  if  a  baron  had  not  as  many  vassals  as  enabled  him  to  try  by 
their  peers  the  parties  who  offered  to  plead  in  his  court,  or  if  he  de- 
layed or  refused  to  proceed  in  the  trial,  the  cause  might  be  carried, 
by  appeal,  to  the  court  of  the  superior  lord  of  whom  the  baron 
held,  and  tried  there.  (De  1'Esprit  des  Loix,  liv.  xxviii.  c.  28  ;  Du 
Cange,  voc.  Defectiis  jfustitifz.}  The  number  of  peers  or  assessors 
in  the  courts  of  barons  was  frequently  very  considerable.  It 
appears  from  a  criminal  trial  in  the  court  of  the  Viscount  de 
Lautrec,  A.D.  1299,  that  upwards  of  two  hundred  persons  were 


PROOFS  AND   ILLUSTRATIONS.  295 

present,  and  assisted  in  the  trial,  and  voted  in  passing  judgment. 
(Hist,  de  Langued.,  par  D.  D.  de  Vic  et  Vaisette,  torn,  iv.,  Preuves, 
p.  114.)  But,  as  the  right  of  jurisdiction  had  been  usurped  by 
many  inconsiderable  barons,  they  were  often  unable  to  hold  courts. 
This  gave  frequent  occasion  to  such  appeals,  and  rendered  the 
practice  familiar.  By  degrees,  such  appeals  began  to  be  made 
from  the  courts  of  the  more  powerful  barons;  and  it  is  evident 
from  a  decision  recorded  by  Brussel  that  the  royal  judges  were 
willing  to  give  countenance  to  any  pretext  for  them.  (Traite  des 
Fiefs,  torn.  i.  pp.  235,  261.)  This  species  of  appeal  had  less  effect 
in  abridging  the  jurisdiction  of  the  nobles  than  the  appeal  on  ac- 
count of  the  injustice  of  the  sentence.  When  the  feudal  monarchs 
were  powerful  and  their  judges  possessed  extensive  authority,  such 
appeals  seem  to  have  been  frequent.  (CapituL,  vol.  i.  pp.  175, 
180.)  And  they  were  made  in  a  manner  suitable  to  the  rudeness 
of  a  simple  age.  The  persons  aggrieved  resorted  to  the  palace  of 
their  sovereign  and  with  outcries  and  loud  noise  called  to  him  for 
redress.  (Capitul.,  lib.  iii.  c.  59;  Chronic.  Lawterbergiense,  ap. 
Mencken.,  Script.  German.,  vol.  ii.  p.  284,  b.)  In  the  kingdom 
of  Aragon,  the  appeals  to  the  justiza,  or  supreme  judge,  were 
taken  in  such  a  form  as  supposed  the  appellant  to  be  in  immediate 
danger  of  death  or  of  some  violent  outrage :  he  rushed  into  the 
presence  of  the  judge,  crying  with  a  loud  voice,  Avi,  Avi,  Fuerza, 
Fuerza,  thus  imploring  (as  it  were)  the  instant  interposition  of  that 
supreme  judge  in  order  to  save  him.  (Hier.  Blanca,  Comment,  de 
Rebus  Aragon.,  ap.  Script.  Hispanic.,  Pistorii,  vol.  iii.  p.  753.)  The 
abolition  of  the  trial  by  combat  facilitated  the  revival  of  appeals  of 
this  kind.  The  effects  of  the  subordination  which  appeals  estab- 
lished, in  introducing  attention,  equity,  and  consistency  of  decision 
into  courts  of  judicature,  were  soon  conspicuous ;  and  almost  all 
causes  of  importance  were  carried  to  be  finally  determined  in  the 
king's  courts.  (Brussel,  torn.  i.  p.  252.)  Various  circumstances 
which  contributed  towards  the  introduction  and  frequency  of  such 
appeals  are  enumerated  De  1'Esprit  des  Loix,  liv.  xxviii.  c.  27. 
Nothing,  however,  was  of  such  effect  as  the  attention  which  mon- 
archs gave  to  the  constitution  and  dignity  of  their  courts  of  justice. 
It  was  the  ancient  custom  for  the  feudal  monarchs  to  preside 


296  PROOFS  AND   ILLUSTRATIONS. 

themselves  in  their  courts,  and  to  administer  justice  in  person. 
(Marculf.,  lib.  i.  \  25;  Murat.,  Dissert.  XXXI.)  Charlemagne, 
whilst  he  was  dressing,  used  to  call  parties  into  his  presence,  and, 
having  heard  and  considered  the  subject  of  litigation,  gave  judg- 
ment concerning  it.  (Eginhartus,  Vita  Caroli  Magni,  cited  by 
Madox,  Hist,  of  Exchequer,  vol.  i.  p.  91.)  This  trial  and  decision 
of  causes  by  the  sovereigns  themselves  could  not  fail  of  rendering 
their  courts  respectable.  St.  Louis,  who  encouraged  to  the  utmost 
the  practice  of  appeals,  revived  this  ancient  custom,  and  adminis- 
tered justice  in  person  with  all  the  ancient  simplicity.  "  I  have 
often  seen  the  saint,"  says  Joinville,  "  sit  under  the  shade  of  an 
oak  -in  the  wood  of  Vincennes,  when  all  who  had  any  complaint 
freely  approached  him.  At  other  times  he  gave  orders  to  spread 
a  carpet  in  a  garden,  and,  seating  himself  upon  it,  heard  the  causes 
that  were  brought  before  him."  (Hist,  de  St.  Louis,  p.  13,  edit. 
1761.)  Princes  of  inferior  rank,  who  possessed  the  right  of 
justice,  sometimes  dispensed  it  in  person,  and  presided  in  their 
tribunals.  Two  instances  of  this  occur  with  respect  to  the 
dauphins  of  Vienne.  (Hist,  de  Dauphine,  torn.  i.  p.  18,  torn.  ii. 
p.  257.)  But  as  kings  and  princes  could  not  decide  every  cause 
in  person,  nor  bring  them  all  to  be  determined  in  the  same  court, 
they  appointed  baillis,  with  a  right  of  jurisdiction,  in  different 
districts  of  their  kingdom.  These  possessed  powers  somewhat 
similar  to  those  of  the  ancient  comites.  It  was  towards  the  end 
of  the  twelfth  century  and  beginning  of  the  thirteenth  that  this 
office  was  first  instituted  in  France.  (Brussel,  liv.  ii.  c.  35.) 
When  the  king  had  a  court  established  in  different  quarters  of  his 
dominions,  this  invited  his  subjects  to  have  recourse  to  it.  It  was 
the  private  interest  of  the  bai//is,  as  well  as  an  object  of  public 
policy,  to  extend  their  jurisdiction.  They  took  advantage  of  every 
defect  in  the  rights  of  the  barons,  and  of  every  error  in  their 
proceedings,  to  remove  causes  out  of  their  courts  and  to  bring 
them  under  their  own  cognizance.  There  was  a  distinction  in  the 
feudal  law,  and  an  extremely  ancient  one,  between  the  high  justice 
and  the  low.  (Capitul.  3,  A.D.  812,  \  4,  A.D.  815,  §  3;  Establ. 
de  St.  Louis,  liv.  i.  c.  40.)  Many  barons  possessed  the  latter 
jurisdiction  who  had  no  title  to  the  former.  The  former  included 


PROOFS  AND   ILLUSTRATIONS. 


297 


the  right  of  trying  crimes  of  every  kind,  even  the  highest ;  the 
latter  was  confined  to  petty  trespasses.  This  furnished  endless 
pretexts  for  obstructing,  restraining,  and  reviewing  the  proceedings 
in  the  baron  courts.  (Ordon.,  ii.  457,  \  25  ;  458,  \  29.)  A  regu- 
lation of  greater  importance  succeeded  the  institution  of  baillis. 
The  king's  supreme  court  or  parliament  was  rendered  fixed  as  to 
the  place  and  constant  as  to  the  time  of  its  meetings.  In  France, 
as  well  as  in  the  other  feudal  kingdoms,  the  king's  court  of  justice 
was  originally  ambulatory,  followed  the  person  of  the  monarch, 
and  was  held  only  during  some  of  the  great  festivals.  Philip 
Augustus,  A.D.  1305,  rendered  it  stationary  at  Paris,  and  continued 
its  terms  during  the  greater  part  of  the  year.  (Pasquier,  Re- 
cherches,  liv.  ii.  c.  2  et  3,  etc. ;  Ordon.,  torn.  i.  p.  366,  $  62.)  He 
and  his  successors  vested  extensive  powers  in  that  court ;  they 
granted  the  members  of  it  several  privileges  and  distinctions 
which  it  would  be  tedious  to  enumerate.  (Pasquier,  ibid.;  Velly, 
Hist,  cle  France,  torn.  vii.  p.  307.)  Persons  eminent  for  integrity 
and  skill  in  law  were  appointed  judges  there.  (Ibid.)  By  degrees 
the  final  decision  of  all  causes  of  importance  was  brought  into  the 
parliament  of  Paris,  and  the  other  parliaments  which  administered 
justice  in  the  king's  name,  in  different  provinces  of  the  kingdom. 
This  jurisdiction,  however,  the  parliament  of  Paris  acquired  very 
slowly,  and  the  great  vassals  of  the  crown  made  violent  efforts  in 
order  to  obstruct  the  attempts  of  that  parliament  to  extend  its 
authority.  Towards  the  close  of  the  thirteenth  century,  Philip  the 
Fair  was  obliged  to  prohibit  his  parliament  from  taking  cognizance 
of  certain  appeals  brought  into  it  from  the  courts  of  the  count  of 
Bretagne,  and  to  recognize  and  respect  his  right  of  supreme  and 
final  jurisdiction.  (Memoires  pour  servir  de  Preuves  &  1'Histoire 
de  Bretagne,  par  Morice,  torn.  i.  pp.  1037,  1074.)  Charles  VI.,  at 
the  end  of  the  following  century,  was  obliged  to  confirm  the  rights 
of  the  dukes  of  Bretagne  in  still  more  ample  form.  (Ibid.,  torn, 
ii.  pp.  580,  581.)  So  violent  was  the  opposition  of  the  barons 
to  this  right  of  appeal,  which  they  considered  as  fatal  to  their 
privileges  and  power,  that  the  authors  of  the  Encyclopedie  have 
mentioned  several  instances  in  which  barons  put  to  death  or 
mutilated  such  persons  as  ventured  to  appeal  from  the  sentences 

N* 


298  PROOFS  AND   ILLUSTRATIONS. 

pronounced  in  their  courts  to  the  parliament  of  Paris  (torn,  xii., 
art.  Parlement,  p.  25). 

The  progress  of  jurisdiction  in  the  other  feudal  kingdoms  was 
in  a  great  measure  similar  to  that  which  we  have  traced  in  France. 
In  England  the  territorial  jurisdiction  of  the  barons  was  both  an- 
cient and  extensive.  (Leg-  Eclw.  Conf.,  no.  5  and  9.)  After  the 
Norman  conquest  it  became  more  strictly  feudal;  and  it  is  evident 
from  facts  recorded  in  the  English  histoiy,  as  well  as  from  the  in- 
stitution of  counties  palatine,  which  I  have  already  mentioned, 
that  the  usurpations  of  the  nobles  in  England  were  not  less  bold 
or  expensive  than  those  of  their  contemporaries  on  the  continent. 
The  same  expedients  were  employed  to  circumscribe  or  abolish 
those  dangerous  jurisdictions.  William  the  Conqueror  established 
a  constant  court  in  the  hall  of  his  palace ;  from  which  the  four 
courts  now  intrusted  with  the  administration  of  justice  in  England 
took  their  rise.  Henry  II.  divided  his  kingdom  into  six  circuits, 
and  sent  itinerant  judges  to  hold  their  courts  in  them  at  stated 
seasons.  (Blackstone's  Commentaries  on  the  Laws  of  England, 
vol.  iii.  p."  57.)  Justices  of  the  peace  were  appointed  in  every 
county  by  subsequent  monarchs,  to  whose  jurisdiction  the  people 
gradually  had  recourse  in  many  civil  causes.  The  privileges  of 
the  counties  palatine  were  gradually  limited;  with  respect  to  some 
points  they  were  abolished,  and  the  administration  of  justice  was 
brought  into  the  king's  courts,  or  before  judges  of  his  appoint- 
ment. The  several  steps  taken  for  this  purpose  are  enumerated  in 
Dalrymple's  History  of  Feudal  Property,  chap.  vii. 

In  Scotland  the  usurpations  of  the  nobility  were  more  exorbi- 
tant than  in  any  other  feudal  kingdom.  The  progress  of  their 
encroachments,  and  the  methods  taken  by  the  crown  to  limit  or 
abolish  their  territorial  and  independent  jurisdictions,  both  which 
I  had  occasion  to  consider  and  explain  in  a  former  work,  differed 
very  little  from  those  of  which  I  have  now  given  the  detail.  His- 
tory of  Scotland,  vol.  i.  p.  37. 

I  should  perplex  myself  and  my  readers  in  the  labyrinth  of 
German  jurisprudence  if  I  were  to  attempt  to  delineate  the  pro- 
gress of  jurisdiction  in  the  empire  with  a  minute  accuracy.  It  is 
sufficient  to  observe  that  the  authority  which  the  aulic  council  and 


PROOFS  AND   ILLUSTRATIONS. 


299 


imperial  chamber  now  possess  took  its  rise  from  the  same  desire 
of  redressing  the  abuses  of  territorial  jurisdiction,  and  was  ac- 
quired in  the  same  manner  that  the  royal  courts  attained  influence 
in  other  countries  of  Europe.  All  the  important  facts  with  respect 
to  both  these  particulars  may  be  found  in  Phil.  Datt.  de  Pace 
Publica  Imperii,  lib.  iv.  The  capital  articles  are  pointed  out  in 
Pfeffel,  Abrege  de  1'Histoire  du  Droit  publique  d'Allemagne,  pp. 
556,  581 ;  and  in  Traite  du  Droit  publique  de  1' Empire,  par  M. 
le  Coq  de  Villeray.  The  two  last  treatises  are  of  great  authority, 
having  been  composed  under  the  eye  of  M.  Schoepflin  of  Stras- 
burg,  one  of  the  ablest  public  lawyers  in  Germany. 

NOTE  XXIV.— Sect.  I.  p.  71. 

It  is  not  easy  to  fix  with  precision  the  period  at  which  ecclesi- 
astics first  began  to  claim  exemption  from  the  civil  jurisdiction. 
It  is  certain  that  during  the  early  and  purest  ages  of  the  Church 
they  pretended  to  no  such  immunity.  The  authority  of  the  civil 
magistrate  extended  to  all  persons  and  to  all  causes.  This  fact 
has  not  only  been  clearly  established  by  Protestant  authors,  but  is 
admitted  by  many  Roman  Catholics  of  eminence,  and  particularly 
by  the  writers  in  defence  of  the  liberties  of  the  Gallican  Church. 
There  are  several  original  papers  published  by  Muratori,  which 
show  that  in  the  ninth  and  tenth  centuries  causes  of  the  greatest 
importance  relating  to  ecclesiastics  were  still  determined  by  civil 
judges.  (Antiq.  Ital.,  vol.  v.  Dissert.  LXX.)  Proofs  of  this  are 
produced  likewise  by  M.  Houard  (Anciennes  Lois  des  Francois, 
etc.,  vol.  i.  p.  209.)  Ecclesiastics  did  not  shake  off  all  at  once 
their  subjection  to  civil  courts.  This  privilege,  like  their  other 
usurpations,  was  acquired  slowly,  and  step  by  step.  This  exemp- 
tion seems  at  first  to  have  been  merely  an  act  of  complaisance, 
flowing  from  veneration  for  their  character.  Thus,  from  a  charter 
of  Charlemagne  in  favor  of  the  church  of  Mans,  A.D.  796,  to 
which  M.  l'Abb6  de  Foy  refers  in  his  Notice  de  Diplomes,  torn, 
i.  p.  201,  that  monarch  directs  his  judges,  if  any  difference 
should  arise  between  the  administrators  of  the  revenues  of  that 
church  and  any  person  whatever,  not  to  summon  the  adminis- 


300 


PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


trators  to  appear  in  "mallo  publico,"  but  first  of  all  to  meet  with 
them,  and  to  endeavor  to  accommodate  the  difference  in  an  ami- 
cable manner.  This  indulgence  was  in  process  of  time  improved 
into  a  legal  exemption  ;  which  was  founded  on  the  same  super- 
stitious respect  of  the  laity  for  the  clerical  character  and  function. 
A  remarkable  instance  of  this  occurs  in  a  charter  of  Frederic 
Barbarossa,  A.D.  1172,  to  the  monastery  of  Altenburg.  He  grants 
them  "judicium  non  tantum  sanguinolentis  plagse,  sed  vitae  et 
mortis;"  he  prohibits  any  of  the  royal  judges  from  disturbing 
their  jurisdiction;  and  the  reason  which  he  gives  for  this  ample 
concession  is,  "nam  quorum,  ex  Dei  gratia,  ratione  divini  minis- 
terii  onus  leve  est,  et  jugum  suave ;  nos  penitus  nolumus  illos 
oppressionis  contumelia,  vel  manu  laica,  fatigari."  Mencken, 
Script.  Rer.  Germ.,  vol.  iii.  p.  1067. 

It  is  not  necessary  for  illustrating  what  is  contained  in  the  text, 
that  I  should  describe  the  manner  in  which  the  code  of  the  canon 
law  was  compiled,  or  show  that  the  doctrines  in  it  most  favorable 
to  the  power  of  the  clergy  are  founded  on  ignorance  or  supported 
by  fraud  and  forgery.  The  reader  will  find  a  full  account  of  these 
in  Gerard,  van  Mastricht,  Historia  Juris  Ecclesiastici,  and  in 
Science  du  Gouvernement,  par  M.  Real,  torn.  vii.  c.  I  et  3,  \\  2, 
3,  etc.  The  history  of  the  progress  and  extent  of  ecclesiastical 
jurisdiction,  with  an  account  of  the  arts  which  the  clergy  em- 
ployed in  order  to  draw  causes  of  every  kind  into  the  spiritual 
courts,  is  no  less  curious,  and  would  throw  great  light  upon  many 
of  the  customs  and  institutions  of  the  Dark  Ages ;  but  it  is  like- 
wise foreign  from  the  present  subject.  Du  Cange,  in  his  Glossary, 
voc.  Curia  Christianitatis,  has  collected  most  of  the  causes  with 
respect  to  which  the  clergy  arrogated  an  exclusive  jurisdiction, 
and  refers  to  the  authors,  or  original  papers,  which  confirm  his 
observations.  Giannone,  in  his  Civil  History  of  Naples,  lib.  xix. 
\  3,  has  ranged  these  under  proper  heads,  and  scrutinizes  the 
pretensions  of  the  Church  with  his  usual  boldness  and  discern- 
ment. M.  Fleury  observes  that  the  clergy  multiplied  the  pretexts 
for  extending  the  authority  of  the  spiritual  courts  with  so  much 
boldness  that  it  was  soon  in  their  power  to  withdraw  almost  every 
person  and  every  cause  from  the  jurisdiction  of  the  civil  magis- 


PROOFS  AND   ILLUSTRATIONS. 


301 


trate.  (Hist.  Eccles.,  torn,  xix.,  Disc.  Prelim.,  16.)  But,  how  ill 
founded  soever  the  jurisdiction  of  the  clergy  may  have  been,  or 
whatever  might  be  the  abuses  to  which  their  manner  of  exercising 
it  gave  rise,  the  principles  and  forms  of  their  jurisprudence  were 
far  more  perfect  than  that  which  was  known  in  the  civil  courts. 
It  seems  to  be  certain  that  ecclesiastics  never  submitted,  during 
any  period  in  the  Middle  Ages,  to  the  laws  contained  in  the  codes 
of  the  barbarous  nations,  but  were  governed  entirely  by  the  Roman 
law.  They  regulated  all  their  transactions  by  such  of  its  maxims 
as  were  preserved  by  tradition  or  were  contained  in  the  Theodo- 
sian  Code  and  other  books  extant  among  them.  This  we  learn 
from  a  custom  which  prevailed  universally  in  those  ages.  Every 
person  was  permitted  to  choose,  among  the  various  codes  of  laws 
then  in  force,  that  to  which  he  was  willing  to  conform.  In  any 
transaction  of  importance,  it  was  usual  for  the  persons  contracting 
to  mention  the  law  to  which  they  submitted,  that  it  might  be 
known  how  any  controversy  that  should  arise  between  them  was 
to  be  decided.  Innumerable  proofs  of  this  occur  in  the  charters 
of  the  Middle  Ages.  But  the  clergy  considered  it  as  such  a 
valuable  privilege  of  their  order  to  be  governed  by  the  Roman 
law,  that  when  any  person  entered  into  holy  orders  it  was  usual 
for  him  to  renounce  the  code  of  laws  to  which  he  had  been  for- 
merly subject,  and  to  declare  that  he  now  submitted  to  the  Roman 
law.  "  Constat  me  Johannem  clericum,  filium  quondam  Verandi, 
qui  professus  sum,  ex  natione  mea,  lege  vivere  Longobardorum, 
sed  tamen,  pro  honore  ecclesiastico,  lege  nunc  videor  vivere  Ro- 
mana."  (Charta,  A.D.  1072.)  "  Farulfus  presbyter  qui  professus 
sum,  more  sacerdotii  mei,  lege  vivere  Romana."  Charta,  A.D. 
1075  ;  Muratori,  Antichita  Estensi,  vol.  i.  p.  78.  See  likewise 
Houard,  Anciennes  Loix  des  Fran9ois,  etc.,  vol.  i.  p.  203. 

The  code  of  the  canon  law  began  to  be  compiled  early  in  the 
ninth  century.  (Mem.  de  PAcacl.  des  Inscript.,  torn,  xviii.  p.  346, 
etc.)  It  was  above  two  centuries  after  that  before  any  collection 
was  made  of  those  customs  which  were  the  rule  of  judgments  in 
the  courts  of  the  barons.  Spiritual  judges  decided,  of  course, 
according  to  written  and  known  laws :  lay  judges,  left  without 
any  fixed  guide,  were  directed  by  loose  traditionary  customs.  But, 
Charles. — Vol..  I.  26 


-702  PROOFS  AND   ILLUSTRATIONS. 

«j 

besides  this  general  advantage  of  the  canon  law,  its  forms  and 
principles  were  more  consonant  to  reason,  and  more  favorable  to 
the  equitable  decision  of  every  point  in  controversy,  than  those 
which  prevailed  in  lay  courts.  It  appears  from  Notes  XXI.  and 
XXIII.,  concerning  private  wars  and  the  trial  by  combat,  that  the 
whole  spirit  of  ecclesiastical  jurisprudence  was  adverse  to  those 
sanguinary  customs,  which  were  destructive  of  justice;  and  the 
whole  force  of  ecclesiastical  authority  was  exerted  to  abolish 
them,  and  to  substitute  trials  by  law  and  evidence  in  their  room. 
Almost  all  the  forms  in  lay  courts  which  contribute  to  establish 
and  continue  to  preserve  order  in  judicial  proceedings  are  bor- 
rowed from  the  canon  law.  (Fleury,  Instit.  du  Droit  Canon., 
part  iii.  c.  6,  p.  52.)  St.  Louis,  in  his  Establissemens,  confirms 
many  of  his  new  regulations  concerning  property  and  the  admin- 
istration of  justice  by  the  authority  of  the  canon  law,  from  which 
he  borrowed  them.  Thus,  for  instance,  the  first  hint  of  attaching 
movables  for  the  recovery  of  a  debt  was  taken  from  the  canon 
law.  (Estab.,  liv.  ii.  c.  21  et  40.)  And  likewise  the  cessio 
bonorum,  by  a  person  who  was  insolvent.  (Ibid.)  In  the  same 
manner,  he  established  new  regulations  with  respect  to  the  effects 
of  persons  dying  intestate  (liv.  i.  c.  89).  These  and  many  other 
salutary  regulations  the  canonists  had  borrowed  from  the  Roman 
law.  Many  other  examples  might  be  produced  of  more  perfect 
jurisprudence  in  the  canon  law  than  was  known  in  lay  courts. 
For  that  reason  it  was  deemed  a  high  privilege  to  be  subject  to 
ecclesiastical  jurisdiction.  Among  the  many  immunities  by  which 
men  were  allured  to  engage  in  the  dangerous  expeditions  for  the 
recovery  of  the  Holy  Land,  one  of  the  most  considerable  was 
the  declaring  such  as  took  the  cross  to  be  subject  only  to  the 
spiritual  courts,  and  to  the  rules  of  decision  observed  in  them. 
See  Note  XIII.,  and  Du  Cange,  voc.  Crucis  Primlegia. 

NOTE  XXV.— Sect.  I.  p.  73. 

The  rapidity  with  which  the  knowledge  and  study  of  the  Roman 
law  spread  over  Europe  is  amazing.  The  copy  of  the  Pandects 
was  found  at  Amalfi,  A.D.  1137.  Irnerius  opened  a  college  of 


PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS.  303 

civil  law  at  Bologna  a  few  years  after.  (Giann.,  Hist.,  book  xi. 
c.  2.)  It  began  to  be  taught  as  a  part  of  academical  learning  in 
different  parts  of  France  before  the  middle  of  the  century.  Vac- 
carius  gave  lectures  on  the  civil  law  at  Oxford  as  early  as  the  year 
1147.  A  regular  system  of  feudal  law,  formed  plainly  in  imita- 
tion of  the  Roman  code,  was  composed  by  two  Milanese  lawyers 
about  the  year  1150.  Gratian  published  the  code  of  canon  law, 
with  large  additions  and  emendations,  about  the  same  time.  The 
earliest  collection  of  those  customs  which  served  as  the  rules  of 
decision  in  the  courts  of  justice  is  the  Assises  de  Jerusalem.  They 
were  compiled,  as  the  preamble  informs  us,  in  the  year  1099,  and 
are  called  "Jus  Consuetudinarium  quo  regebatur  Regnum  Orien- 
tale."  (Willerm.  Tyr.,  lib.  xix.  c.  2.)  But  peculiar  circumstances 
gave  occasion  to  this  early  compilation.  The  victorious  crusaders 
settled  as  a  colony  in  a  foreign  country,  and  adventurers  from  all 
the  different  nations  of  Europe  composed  this  new  society.  It 
was  necessary  on  that  account  to  ascertain  the  laws  and  customs 
which  were  to  regulate  the  transactions  of  business  and  the  ad- 
ministration of  justice  among  them.  But  in  no  country  of  Europe 
was  there,  at  that  time,  any  collection  of  customs,  nor  had  any 
attempt  been  made  to  render  law  fixed.  The  first  undertaking  of 
that  kind  was  by  Glanville,  lord  chief  justice  of  England,  in  his 
Tractatus  de  Legibus  et  Consuetudinibus  Anglioe,  composed  about 
the  year  1181.  The  Regiam  Majestatem  in  Scotland,  ascribed  to 
David  I.,  seems  to  be  an  imitation,  and  a  servile  one,  of  Glanville. 
Several  Scottish  antiquaries,  under  the  influence  of  that  pious  cre- 
dulity which  disposes  men  to  assent  without  hesitation  to  whatever 
they  deem  for  the  honor  of  their  native  country,  contend  zealously 
that  the  Regiam  Majestatem  is  a  production  prior  to  the  treatise  of 
Glanville,  and  have  brought  themselves  to  believe  that  a  nation 
in  a  superior  state  of  improvement  borrowed  its  laws  and  institu- 
tions from  one  considerably  less  advanced  in  its  political  progress. 
The  internal  evidence  (were  it  my  province  to  examine  it)  by 
which  this  theory  might  be  refuted  is,  in  my  opinion,  decisive. 
The  external  circumstances  which  have  seduced  Scottish  authors 
.into  this  mistake  have  been  explained  with  so  much  precision  and 
candor  by  Sir  David  Dalrymple,  in  his  examination  of  some  of 


3°4 


PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


the  arguments  for  the  high  antiquity  of  the  Regiam  Majestatem 
(Edin.,  1769,  4to),  that  it  is  to  be  hoped  the  controversy  will  not 
be  again  revived.  Pierre  de  Fontaines,  who  tells  us  that  he  was 
the  first  who  had  attempted  such  a  work  in  France,  composed  his 
Conseil,  which  contains  an  account  of  the  customs  of  the  country 
of  Vermandois  in  the  reign  of  St.  Louis,  which  began  A.D.  1226. 
Beaumanoir,  the  author  of  the  Coustumes  de  Beauvoisis,  lived 
about  the  same  lime.  The  Establissemens  of  St.  Louis,  contain- 
ing a  large  collection  of  the  customs  which  prevailed  within  the 
royal  domains,  were  published  by  the  authority  of  that  monarch. 
As  soon  as  men  became  acquainted  with  the  advantages  of  having 
wriflen  customs  and  laws  to  which  they  could  have  recourse  on 
every  occasion,  the  practice  of  collecting  them  became  common. 
Charles  VII.  of  France,  by  an  ordinance  A.D.  1453,  appointed  the 
customary  laws  in  every  province  of  France  to  be  collected  and 
arranged.  Velly  et  Villaret,  Histoire,  torn.  xvi.  p.  113. 

His  successor,  Louis  XL,  renewed  the  injunction.  But  this 
salutary  undertaking  hath  never  been  fully  executed,  and  the 
jurisprudence  of  the  French  nation  remains  more  obscure  and 
uncertain  than  it  would  have  been  if  these  prudent  regulations  of 
their  monarchs  had  taken  effect.  A  mode  of  judicial  determina- 
tion was  established  in  the  Middle  Ages,  which  affords  the  clear- 
est proof  that  judges,  while  they  had  no  other  rule  to  direct  their 
decrees  but  unwritten  and  traditionary  customs,  were  often  at  a 
loss  how  to  find  out  the  facts  and  principles  according  to  which 
they  were  bound  to  decide.  They  were  obliged,  in  dubious  cases, 
to  call  a  certain"  number  of  old  men,  and  to  lay  the  case  before 
them,  that  they  might  inform  them  what  was  the  practice  or  cus- 
tom with  regard  to  the  point.  This  was  called  enqueste  par  tottrbe. 
(Du  Cange,  voc.  Turba.)  The  effects  of  the  revival  of  the  Roman 
jurisprudence  have  been  explained  by  M.  de  Montesquieu  (liv. 
xxviii.  c.  42),  and  by  Mr.  Hume  (Hist,  of  England,  vol.  ii.  p. 
441).  I  have  adopted  many  of  their  ideas.  Who  can  pretend 
to  review  any  subject  which  such  writers  have  considered,  with- 
out receiving  from  them  light  and  information  ?  At  the  same 
time,  I  am  convinced  that  the  knowledge  of  the  Roman  law  was^ 
not  so  entirely  lost  in  Europe  during  the  Middle  Ages  as  is 


PROOFS  AND   ILLUSTRATIONS. 


3°5 


commonly  believed.  My  subject  does  not  require  me  to  examine 
this  point.  Many  striking  facts  with  regard  to  it  are  collected  by 
Donato  Antonio  d"  Asti,  Dell'  Uso  e  Autorita  della  Ragione  civile 
nelle  Provincie  dell'  Imperio  Occidentale,  Nap.,  1751,  2  vols.  8vo. 
That  the  civil  law  is  intimately  connected  with  the  municipal 
jurisprudence  in  several  countries  of  Europe  is  a  fact  so  well 
known  that  it  needs  no  illustration.  Even  in  England,  where  the 
common  law  is  supposed  to  form  a  system  perfectly  distinct  from 
the  Roman  code,  and  although  such  as  apply  in  that  country  to 
the  study  of  the  common  law  boast  of  this  distinction  with  some 
degree  of  affectation,  it  is  evident  that  many  of  the  ideas  and 
maxims  of  the  civil  law  are  incorporated  into  the  English  juris- 
prudence. This  is  well  illustrated  by  the  ingenious  and  learned 
author  of  Observations  on  the  Statutes,  chiefly  the  more  Ancient, 
3d  edit.,  p.  76,  etc. 

NOTE  XXVI.— Sect.  I.  p.  75. 

The  whole  history  of  the  Middle  Ages  makes  it  evident  that 
war  was  the  sole  profession  of  gentlemen,  and  almost  the  only 
object  attended  to  in  their  education.  Even  after  some  change  in 
manners  began  to  take  place,  and  the  civil  arts  of  life  had  acquired 
some  reputation,  the  ancient  ideas  with  respect  to  the  accomplish- 
ments necessary  for  a  person  of  noble  birth  continued  long  in 
force.  In  the  M6moires  de  Fleuranges,  p.  9,  etc.,  we  have  an 
account  of  the  youthful  exercises  and  occupations  of  Francis  I., 
and  they  were  altogether  martial  and  athletic.  That  father  of 
letters  owed  his  relish  for  them,  not  to  education,  but  to  his  own 
good  sense  and  good  taste.  The  manners  of  the  superior  order 
of  ecclesiastics  during  the  Middle  Ages  furnish  the  strongest  proof 
that,  in  some  instances,  the  distinction  of  professions  was  not  com- 
pletely ascertained  in  Europe.  The  functions  and  character  of  the 
clergy  are  obviously  very  different  from  those  of  laymen ;  and 
among  the  inferior  orders  of  churchmen  this  constituted  a  distinct 
character  separate  from  that  of  other  citizens.  .  But  the  dignified 
ecclesiastics,  who  were  frequently  of  noble  birth,  were  above  such 
a  distinction ;  they  retained  the  idea  of  what  belonged  to  them  as 
26* 


306  PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

gentlemen,  and,  in  spite  of  the  decrees  of  popes  or  the  canons  of 
councils,  they  bore  arms,  led  their  vassals  to  the  field,  and  fought 
at  their  head  in  battle.  Among  them  the  priesthood  was  scarcely 
a  separate  profession;  the  military  accomplishments  which  they 
thought  essential  to  them  as  gentlemen  were  cultivated ;  the  theo- 
logical science  and  pacific  virtues  suitable  to  their  spiritual  func- 
tion were  neglected  and  despised. 

As  soon  as  the  science  of  law  became  a  laborious  study,  and 
the  practice  of  it  a  separate  profession,  such  persons  as  rose  to 
eminence  in  it  obtained  honors  which  had  formerly  been  appro- 
priated to  soldiers.  Knighthood  was  the  most  illustrious  mark 
of  distinction  during  several  ages,  and  conferred  privileges  to 
which  rank  or  birth  alone  was  not  entitled.  To  this  high  dignity 
persons  eminent  for  their  knowledge  of  law  were  advanced,  and 
were  thereby  placed  on  a  level  with  those  whom  their  military 
talents  had  rendered  conspicuous.  Miles  justifies,  miles  literatus, 
became  common  titles.  Matthew  Paris  mentions  such  knights  as 
early  as  A.D.  1251.  If  a  judge  attained  a  certain  rank  in  the 
courts  of  justice,  that  alone  gave  him  a  right  to  the  honor  of 
knighthood.  (Pasquier,  Recherches,  liv.  xi.  c.  16,  p.  130;  Dis- 
sertations historiques  sur  la  Chevalerie,  par  Honore  de  Sainte- 
Marie,  p.  164,  etc.)  A  profession  that  led  to  offices  which  ennobled 
the  persons  who  held  them  grew  into  credit,  and  the  people  of 
Europe  became  accustomed  to  see  men  rise  to  eminence  by  civil 
as  well  as  military  talents. 

NOTE  XXVII.— Sect.  I.  p.  78. 

The  chief  intention  of  these  notes  was  to  bring  at  once  under 
the  view  of  my  readers  such  facts  and  circumstances  as  tend  to 
illustrate  or  confirm  what  is  contained  in  that  part  of  the  history 
to  which  they  refer.  When  these  lay  scattered  in  many  different 
authors,  and  were  taken  from  books  not  generally  known,  or 
which  many  of  my  readers  might  find  it  disagreeable  to  consult,  I 
thought  it  would  be  of  advantage  to  collect  them  together.  But 
when  every  thing  necessary  for  the  proof  or  illustration  of  my 
narrative  or  reasoning  may  be  found  in  any  one  book  which  is 


PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


3°7 


generally  known,  or  deserves  to  be  so,  I  shall  satisfy  myself  with 
referring  to  it.  This  is  the  case  with  respect  to  chivalry.  Almost 
every  fact  which  I  have  mentioned  in  the  text,  together  with 
many  other  curious  and  instructive  particulars  concerning  this 
singular  institution,  may  be  found  in  Memoires  sur  1'ancienne 
Chevalerie  consideree  comme  une  Establissement  politique  et 
militaire,  par  M.  de  la  Curne  de  Ste.  Palaye. 

NOTE  XXVIII.— Sect.  I.  p.  83. 

The  subject  of  my  inquiries  does  not  call  me  to  write  a  history 
of  the  progress  of  science.  The  facts  and  observations  which  I 
have  produced  are  sufficient  to  illustrate  the  effects'  of  its  progress 
upon  manners  and  the  state  of  society.  While  science  was  alto- 
gether extinct  in  the  western  parts  of  Europe,  it  was  cultivated 
in  Constantinople  and  other  parts  of  the  Grecian  empire.  But 
the  subtile  genius  of  the  Greeks  turned  almost  entirely  to  theo- 
logical disputation.  The  Latins  borrowed  that  spirit  from  them, 
and  many  of  the  controversies  which  still  occupy  and  divide  theo- 
logians took  their  rise  among  the  Greeks,  from  whom  the  other 
Europeans  derived  a  considerable  part  of  their  knowledge.  (See 
the  testimony  of  tineas  Silvius,  ap.  Conringium  de  Antiq.  Acade- 
micis,  p.  43;  Histoire  litteraire  de  France,  torn.  vii.  p.  113,  etc., 
torn.  ix.  p.  15 1 1  etc.)  Soon  after  the  empire  of  the  Caliphs  was 
established  in  the  East,  some  illustrious  princes  arose  among 
them,  who  encouraged  science.  But  when  the  Arabians  turned 
their  attention  to  the  literature  cultivated  by  the  ancient  Greeks 
and  Romans,  the  chaste  and  correct  taste  of  their  works  of  genius 
appeared  frigid  and  unanimated  to  a  people  of  a  more  warm 
imagination.  Though  they  could  not  admire  the  poets  and  his- 
torians of  Greece  or  of  Rome,  they  were  sensible  to  the  merit  of 
their  philosophers.  The  operations  of  the  intellect  are  more  fixed 
and  uniform  than  those  of  the  fancy  or  taste.  Truth  makes  an 
impression  nearly  the  same  in  every  place ;  the  ideas  of  what  is 
beautiful,  elegant,  or  sublime  vary  in  different  climates.  The 
Arabians,  though  they  neglected  Homer,  translated  the  most 
eminent  of  the  Greek  philosophers  into  their  own  language,  and, 


308  PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

guided  by  their  precepts  and  discoveries,  applied  themselves  with 
great  ardor  to  the  study  of  geometry,  astronomy,  medicine,  dia- 
lectics, and  metaphysics.  In  the  three  former  they  made  con- 
siderable and  useful  improvements,  which  have  contributed  not  a 
little  to  advance  those  sciences  to  that  high  degree  of  perfection 
which  they  have  attained.  In  the  two  latter  they  chose  Aristotle 
for  their  guide,  and,  refining  on  the  subtle  and  distinguishing 
spirit  which  characterizes  his  philosophy,  they  rendered  it  in  a 
great  degree  frivolous  and  unintelligible.  The  schools  established 
in  the  East  for  teaching  and  cultivating  these  sciences  were  in 
high  reputation.  They  communicated  their  love  of  science  to 
their  countrymen,  who  conquered  Africa  and  Spain;  and  the 
schools  instituted  there  were  little  inferior  in  fame  to  those  in 
the  East.  Many  of  the  persons  who  distinguished  themselves  by 
their  proficiency  in  science  during  the  twelfth  and  thirteenth  cen- 
turies were  educated  among  the  Arabians.  Bruckerus  collects 
many  instances  of  this  (Histor.  Philos.,  vol.  iii.  p.  681,  etc).  Al- 
most all  the  men  eminent  for  science  during  several  centuries,  if 
they  did  not  resort  in  person  to  the  schools  in  Africa  and  Spain, 
were  instructed  in  the  philosophy  of  the  Arabians.  The  first 
knowledge  of  the  Aristotelian  philosophy  in  the  Middle  Ages  was 
acquired  by  translations  of  Aristotle's  works  out  of  the  Arabic. 
The  Arabian  commentators  were  deemed  the  most  skilful  and 
authentic  guides  in  the  study  of  his  system.  (Conring.,  Antiq. 
Acad.,  Diss.  III.  p.  95,  etc.;  Supplem.,  p.  241,  etc.;  Murat., 
Antiquit.  Ital.,  vol.  iii.  p.  932,  etc.)  From  them  the  schoolmen 
derived  the  genius  and  principles  of  their  philosophy,  which 
contributed  so  much  to  retard  the  progress  of  true  science. 

The  establishment  of  colleges  or  universities  is  a  remarkable 
era  in  literary  history.  The  schools  in  cathedrals  and  monasteries 
confined  themselves  chiefly  to  the  teaching  of  grammar.  There 
were  only  one  or  two  masters  employed  in  that  office.  But  in 
colleges,  professors  were  appointed  to  teach  all  the  different  parts 
of  science.  The  course  or  order  of  education  was  fixed.  The 
time  that  ought  to  be  allotted  to  the  study  of  each  science  was 
ascertained.  A  regular  form  of  trying  the  proficiency  of  students 
was  prescribed ;  and  academical  titles  and  honors  were  conferred 


PROOFS  AND   ILLUSTRATIONS. 


3°9 


on  such  as  acquitted  themselves  with  approbation.  A  good  account 
of  the  origin  and  nature  of  these  is  given  by  Seb.  Bacmeisterus, 
Antiquitates  Rostochienses,  sive  Historia  Urbis  et  Academise  Ros- 
toch.  ap.  Monumenta  inedita  Rer.  Germ.,  per  E.  J.  de  Westphalen, 
vol.  iii.  p.  781,  Lips.,  1743.  The  first  obscure  mention  of  these 
academical  degrees  in  the  University  of  Paris  (from  which  the 
other  universities  in  Europe  have  borrowed  most  of  their  customs 
and  institutions)  occurs  A.D.  1215.  (Crevier,  Hist,  de  PUniv.  de 
Paris,  torn.  i.  p.  296,  etc.)  They  were  completely  established  A.D. 
1231.  (Ibid.,  248.)  It  is  unnecessary  to  enumerate  the  several 
privileges  to  which  bachelors,  masters,  and  doctors  were  entitled. 
One  circumstance  is  sufficient  to  demonstrate  the  high  degree  of 
estimation  in  which  they  were  held.  Doctors  in  the  different 
faculties  contended  with  knights  for  precedence,  and  the  dispute 
was  terminated  in  many  instances  by  advancing  the  former  to 
the  dignity  of  knighthood,  the  high  prerogatives  of  which  I  have 
mentioned.  It  was  even  asserted  that  a  doctor  had  a  right  to 
that  title  without  creation.  Bartolus  taught  "  doctorem  actualiter 
regentem  in  jure  civili  per  decennium  effici  militem  ipso  facto." 
(Honor6  de  Ste.  Marie,  Dissert.,  p.  165.)  This  was  called  "  che- 
valerie  de  lectures,"  and  the  persons  advanced  to  that  dignity, 
"  milites  clerici."  These  new  establishments  for  education,  to- 
gether with  the  extraordinary  honors  conferred  on  learned  men, 
greatly  increased  the  number  of  scholars.  In  the  year  1262  there 
were  ten  thousand  students  in  the  University  of  Bologna ;  and  it 
appears  from  the  history  of  that  university  that  law  was  the  only 
science  taught  in  it  at  that  time.  In  the  year  1340  there  were 
thirty  thousand  in  the  University  of  Oxford.  (Speed's  Chron., 
ap.  Anderson's  Chronol.  Deduction  of  Commerce,  vol.  i.  p.  172.) 
In  the  same  century,  ten  thousand  persons  voted  in  a  question 
agitated  in  the  University  of  Paris ;  and,  as  graduates  alone  were 
admitted  to  that  privilege,  the  number  of  students  must  have  been 
very  great.  (Velly,  Hist,  de  France,  torn.  xi.  p.  147.)  There 
were  indeed  few  universities  in  Europe  at  that  time;  but  such  a 
number  of  students  may  nevertheless  be  produced  as  a  proof  of 
the  extraordinary  ardor  with  which  men  applied  to  the  study  of 
science  in  those  ages;  it  shows,  likewise,  that  they  already  began 


310 


PROOFS  AND    ILLUSTRATIONS. 


to  consider  other  professions  beside  that  of  a  soldier  as  honorable 
and  useful. 

NOTE  XXIX.— Sect.  I.  p.  85. 

The  great  variety  of  subjects  which  I  have  endeavored  to  illus- 
trate, and  the  extent  of  this  upon  which  I  now  enter,  will  justify 
my  adopting  the  words  of  M.  de  Montesquieu  when  he  begins  to 
treat  of  commerce.  "  The  subject  which  follows  would  require 
to  be  discussed  more  at  large ;  but  the  nature  of  this  work  does 
not  permit  it.  I  wish  to  glide  on  a  tranquil  stream ;  but  I  am 
hurried  along  by  a  torrent." 

Many  proofs  occur  in  history  of  the  little  intercourse  between 
nations  during  the  Middle  Ages.  Towards  the  close  of  the  tenth 
century,  Count  Bouchard,  intending  to  found  a  monastery  at  St. 
Maur  des  Fosses,  near  Paris,  applied  to  an  abbot  of  Clugny,  in 
Burgundy,  famous  for  his  sanctity,  entreating  him  to  conduct  the 
monks  thither.  The  language  in  which  he  addressed  that  holy 
man  is  singular :  he  tells  him  that  he  had  undertaken  the  labor  of 
such  a  great  journey ;  that  he  was  fatigued  with  the  length  of  it, 
therefore  hoped  to  obtain  his  request,  and  that  his  journey  into 
such  a  distant  country  should  not  be  in  vain.  The  answer  of  the 
abbot  is  still  more  extraordinary.  He  refused  to  comply  with  his 
desire,  as  it  would  be  extremely  fatiguing  to  go  along  with  him 
into  a  strange  and  unknown  region.  (Vita  Burchardi  venerabilis 
Comitis,  ap.  Bouquet,  Rec.  des  Hist.,  vol.  x.-p.  351.)  Even  so 
late  as  the  beginning  of  the  twelfth  century,  the  monks  of  Ferrieres, 
in  the  diocese  of  Sens,  did  not  know  that  there  was  such  a  city  as 
Tournay  in  Flanders ;  and  the  monks  of  St.  Martin  of  Tournay 
were  equally  unacquainted  with  the  situation  of  Ferrieres.  A 
transaction  in  which  they  were  both  concerned  made  it  necessary 
for  them  to  have  some  intercourse.  The  mutual  interest  of  both 
monasteries  prompted  each  to  find  out  the  situation  of  the  other. 
After  a  long  search,  which  is  particularly  described,  the  discovery 
was  made  by  accident.  (Herimannus  Abbas,  De  Restauratione  St. 
Martini  Tornacensis,  ap.  Dacher.  Spicil.,  vol.  xii.  p.  400.)  The 
ignorance  of  the  Middle  Ages  with  respect  to  the  situation  and 
geography  of  remote  countries  was  still  more  remarkable.  The 


PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS.  3n 

most  ancient  geographical  chart  which  now  remains  as  a  monu- 
ment of  the  state  of  that  science  in  Europe  during  the  Middle 
Ages  is  found  in  a  manuscript  of  the  Chronique  de  St.  Denys. 
There  the  three  parts  of  the  earth  then  known  are  so  represented 
th.it  Jerusalem  is  placed  in  the  middle  of  the  globe,  and  Alexan- 
dria appears  to  be  as  near  to  it  as  Nazareth.  (Mem.  de  1'Acad. 
des  Belles-Lettres,  torn.  xvi.  p.  185.)  There  seem  to  have  been 
no  inns  or  houses  of  entertainment  for  the  reception  of  travellers 
during  the  Middle  Ages.  (Murat.,  Antiq.  Ital.,  vol.  iii.  p.  581,  etc.) 
This  is  a  proof  of  the  little  intercourse  which  took  place  between 
different  nations.  Among  people  whose  manners  are  simple,  and 
who  are  seldom  visited  by  strangers,  hospitality  is  a  virtue  of  the 
first  rank.  This  duty  of  hospitality  was  so  necessary  in  that  state 
of  society  which  took  place  during  the  Middle  Ages  that  it  was 
not  considered  as  one  of  those  virtues  which  men  may  practise  or 
not,  according  to  the  temper  of  their  minds  and  the  generosity  of 
their  hearts.  Hospitality  was  enforced  by  statutes,  and  such  as 
neglected  this  duty  were  liable  to  punishment.  "  Qtiicunque  hos- 
piti  venienti  lectum  aut  focum  negaverit,  trium  solidorum  inlatione 
mulctetur."  (Leg.  Burgund.,  tit.  xxxviii.  $  I.)  "  Si  quis  homini 
aliquo  pergenti  in  itinere  mansionem  vetaverit,  sexaginta  solidos 
componat  in  publico."  (Capitul.,  lib.  vi.  $  82.)  This  increase  of 
the  penalty,  at  a  period  so  long  after  that  in  which  the  laws  of  the 
Burgundians  were  published,  and  when  the  state  of  society  was 
much  improved,  is  very  remarkable.  Other  laws  of  the  same 
purport  are  collected  by  Jo.  Fred.  Polac.,  Systema  Jurisprud.  Ger- 
manicEe,  Lips.,  1733,  p.  75.  The  laws  of  the  Slavi  were  more 
rigorous  than  any  that  he  mentions :  they  ordained  that  the 
movables  of  an  inhospitable  person  should  be  confiscated,  and 
his  house  burnt.  They  were  even  so  solicitous  for  the  entertain- 
ment of  strangers  that  they  permitted  the  landlord  to  steal  for  the 
support  of  his  guest.  "  Quod  noctu  furatus  fueris,  eras  appone 
hospitibus."  (Rerum  Mecleburgicar.,  lib.  viii.  a  Mat.  Jo.  Beehr., 
Lips.,  1751,  p.  50.)  In  consequence  of  these  laws,  or  of  the  state 
of  society  which  made  it  proper  to  enact  them,  hospitality  abounded 
while  the  intercourse  among  men  was  inconsiderable,  and  secured 
the  stranger  a  kind  reception  under  every  roof  where  he  chose  to 


3I2 


PROOFS  AND   ILLUSTRATIONS. 


take  shelter.  This,  too,  proves  clearly  that  the  intercourse  among 
men  was  rare ;  for  as  soon  as  this  became  frequent,  what  was  a 
pleasure  became  a  burden,  and  the  entertaining  of  travellers  was 
converted  into  a  branch  of  commerce. 

But  the  laws  of  the  Middle  Ages  afford  a  proof  still  more  con- 
vincing of  the  small  intercourse  between  different  nations.  The 
genius  of  the  feudal  system,  as  well  as  the  spirit  of  jealousy  which 
always  accompanies  ignorance,  concurred  in  discourag  ng  strangers 
from  settling  in  any  new  country.  If  a  person  removed  from  one 
province  in  a  kingdom  to  another,  he  was  boun  1  within  a  year 
and  a  day  to  acknowledge  himself  the  vassal  of  the  baron  in  whose 
estatfc  he  settled ;  if  he  neglected  to  do  so,  he  became  liable  to  a 
penalty ;  and  if  at  his  death  he  neglected  to  leave  a  certain  legacy 
to  the  baron  within  whose  territory  he  had  resided,  all  his  goods 
were  confiscated.  The  hardships  imposed  on  foreigners  settling 
in  a  country  were  still  more  intolerable.  In  more  early  times  the 
superior  lord  of  any  territory  in  which  a  foreigner  settled  might 
seize  his  person  and  reduce  him  to  servitude.  Very  striking  in- 
stances of  this  occur  in  the  history  of  the  Middle  Ages.  The 
cruel  depredations  of  the  Normans  in  the  ninth  century  obliged 
many  inhabitants  of  the  maritime  provinces  of  France  to  fly  into 
the  interior  parts  of  the  kingdom.  But,  instead  of  being  received 
with  that  humanity  to  which  their  wretched  condition  entitled 
them,  they  were  reduced  to  a  state  of  servitude.  Both  the  civil 
and  ecclesiastical  powers  found  it  necessary  to  interpose  in  order 
to  put  a  stop  to  this  barbarous  practice.  (Potgiesser.,  de  Statu 
Servor.,  lib.  i.  c.  I,  \  16.)  In  other  countries  the  laws  permitted 
the  inhabitants  of  the  maritime  provinces  to  reduce  such  as  were 
shipwrecked  on  their  coast  to  servitude.  (Ibid.,  \  17.)  Thfe  bar- 
barous custom  prevailed  in  many  countries  of  Europe.  The  prac- 
tice of  seizing  the  goods  of  persons  who  had  been  shipwrecked, 
and  of  confiscating  them  as  the  property  of  the  lord  on  whose 
manor  they  were  thrown,  seems  to  have  been  universal.  (De 
Westphalen,  Monum.  inedita  Rer.  Germ.,  vol.  iv.  p.  907,  etc., 
and  Du  Cange,  voc.  Lagatntm ;  Beehr.,  Rer.  Mecleb.,  lib.  viii. 
p.  512.)  Among  the  ancient  Welsh  three  sorts  of  persons,  a 
madman,  a  stranger,  and  a  leper,  might  be  killed  with  impunity. 


PROOFS  AND   ILLUSTRATIONS.  313 

(Leges  Hoel  Dda,  quoted  in  Observat.  on  the  Statutes,  chiefly  the 
more  Ancient,  p.  22.)  M.  de  Lauriere  produces  several  ancient 
deeds  which  prove  that  in  different  provinces  of  France  strangers 
became  the  slaves  of  the  lord  on  whose  lands  they  settled.  (Glos- 
saire  du  Droit  Francois,  art.  Aubaine,  p.  92.)  Beaumanoir  says, 
"  That  there  are  several  places  in  France  in  which,  if  a  stranger 
fixes  his  residence  for  a  year  and  a  day,  he  becomes  the  slave  of 
the  lord  of  the  manor."  (Coust.  de  Beauv.,  ch.  45,  p.  254.)  As 
a  practice  so  contrary  to  humanity  could  not  subsist  long,  the 
superior  lords  found  it  necessary  to  rest  satisfied,  instead  of  en- 
slaving aliens,  with  levying  certain  annual  taxes  upon  them,  or 
imposing  upon  them  some  extraordinary  duties  or  services.  But 
when  any  stranger  died,  he  could  not  convey  his  effects  by  will ; 
and  all  his  real  as  well  as  personal  estate  fell  to  the  king,  or  to 
the  lord  of  the  barony,  to  the  exclusion  of  his  natural  heirs. 
This  is  termed  in  France  droit  iVaubaine.  (Pref.  de  Lauriere, 
Ordon.,  torn.  i.  p.  15;  Brussel,  torn.  ii.  p.  944;  Du  Cange,  voc. 
Albani ;  Pasquier,  Recherches,  p.  367.)  This  practice  of  con- 
fiscating the  effects  of  strangers  upon  their  death  was  very  ancient. 
It  is  mentioned,  though  very  obscurely,  in  a  law  of  Charlemagne, 
A.D.  813,  Capitul.  Baluz.,  p.  507,  \  5.  Not  only  persons  who 
were  born  in  a  foreign  country  were  subject  to  the  "droit  d'au- 
baine,"  but  in  some  countries  such  as  removed  from  one  diocese 
to  another,  or  from  the  lands  of  one  baron  to  another.  (Brussel, 
vol.  ii.  pp.  947,  949.)  It  is  hardly  possible  to  conceive  any  law 
more  unfavorable  to  the  intercourse  between  nations.  Something 
similar  to  it,  however,  may  be  found  in  the  ancient  laws  of  every 
kingdom  in  Europe.  With  respect  to  Italy,  see  Murat.,  Ant.,  vol. 
ii.  p.  14.  As  nations  advanced  in  improvement,  this  practice  was 
gradually  abolished.  It  is  no  small  disgrace  to  the  French  juris- 
prudence that  this  barbarous,  inhospitable  custom  should  have  so 
long  remained  among  a  people  so  highly  civilized. 

The  confusion  and  outrage  which  abounded  under  a  feeble 
form  of  government,  incapable  of  framing  or  executing  salutary 
laws,  rendered  the  communication  between  the  different  provinces 
of  the  same  kingdom  extremely  dangerous.  It  appears  from  a 
letter  of  Lupus,  abbot  of  Ferrieres,  in  the  ninth  century,  that  the 
Charles.— VOL.  I.— o  27 


314 


PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


highways  were  so  much  infested  by  banditti  that  it  was  necessary 
for  travellers  to  form  themselves  into  companies  or  caravans,  that 
they  might  be  safe  from  the  assaults  of  robbers.  (Bouquet, 
Recueil  des  Hist.,  vol.  vii.  p.  515.)  The  numerous  regulations 
published  by  Charles  the  Bald  in  the  same  century  discover  the 
frequency  of  these  disorders ;  and  such  acts  of  violence  were 
become  so  common  that  by  many  they  were  hardly  considered  as 
criminal.  For  this  reason  the  inferior  judges,  called  "  centenarii," 
were  required  to  take  an  oath  that  they  would  neither  commit  any 
robbery  themselves,  nor  protect  such  as  were  guilty  of  that  crime. 
(Capital.,  edit.  Baluz.,  vol.  ii.  pp.  63,  68.)  The  historians  of  the 
ninth  and  tenth  centuries  give  pathetic  descriptions  of  these  dis- 
orders. Some  remarkable  passages  to  this  purpose  are  collected 
by  Mat.  Jo.  Beehr.,  Rer.  Mecleb.,  lib.  viii.  p.  603.  They  became 
so  frequent  and  audacious  that  the  authority  of  the  civil  magis- 
trate was  unable  to  repress  them.  The  ecclesiastical  jurisdiction 
was  called  in  to  aid  it.  Councils  were  held  with  great  solemnity, 
the  bodies  of  the  saints  were  brought  thither,  and,  in  presence  of 
their  sacred  relics,  anathemas  were  denounced  against  robbers 
and  other  violators  of  the  public  peace,  (Bouquet,  Recueil  des 
Hist.,  torn.  x.  pp.  360,  431,  536.)  One  of  these  forms  of  excom- 
munication, issued  A.D.  988,  is  still  preserved,  and  is  so  singular, 
and  composed  with  eloquence  of  such  a  peculiar  kind,  that  it  will 
not  perhaps  be  deemed  unworthy  of  a  place  here.  After  the  usual 
introduction,  and  mentioning  the  outrage  which  gave  occasion  to 
the  anathema,  it  runs  thus :  "  Obtenebrescant  oculi  vestri,  qui 
concupiverunt ;  arescant  manus,  quse  rapuerunt ;  debilitentur 
omnia  membra,  quse  adjuverunt.  Semper  laboretis,  nee  requiem 
inveniatis,  fructuque  vestri  laboris  privemini.  Formidetis,  et 
paveatis,  a  facie  persequentis  et  non  persequentis  hostis,  ut  tabe- 
scendo  deficiatis.  Sit  portio  vestra  cum  Juda  traditore  Domini, 
in  terra  mortis  et  tenebrarum ;  donee  corda  vestra  ad  satisfactio- 
nem  plenam  convertantur. — Ne  cessent  a  vobis  hse  maledictiones, 
scelerum  vestrorum  persecutrices,  quamdiu  permanebitis  in  pec- 
cato  pervasionis.  Amen,  Fiat,  Fiat."  Bouquet,  ibid.,  p.  517. 


PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS.  315 

NOTE  XXX.— Sect.  I.  p.  89. 

With  respect  to  the  progress  of  commerce,  which  I  have  de- 
scribed, p.  84,  etc.,  it  maybe  observed  that  the  Italian  states  carried 
on  some  commerce  with  the  cities  of  the  Greek  empire  as  early 
as  the  age  of  Charlemagne,  and  imported  into  their  own  country 
the  rich  commodities  of  the  East.  (Murat.,  Antiq.  Ital.,  vol.  ii. 
p.  882.)  In  the  tenth  century  the  Venetians  had  opened  a  trade 
with  Alexandria  in  Egypt.  (Ibid.)  The  inhabitants  of  Amalfi 
and  Pisa  had  likewise  extended  their  trade  to  the  same  ports. 
(Murat.,  ib.,  pp.  884,  885.)  The  effects  of  the  crusades  in  increas- 
ing the  wealth  and  commerce  of  the  Italian  states,  and  particularly 
that  which  they  carried  on  with  the  East,  I  have  explained,  p.  33 
of  this  volume.  They  not  only  imported  the  Indian  commodities 
from  the  East,  but  established  manufactures  of  curious  fabric  in 
their  own  country.  Some  of  these  are  enumerated  by  Muratori 
in  his  Dissertations  concerning  the  arts  and  the  weaving  of  the 
Middle  Ages.  (Antiq.  Ital.,  vol.  ii.  pp.  349,  399.)  They  made 
great  progress  particularly  in  the  manufacture  of  silk,  which  had 
long  been  peculiar  to  the  eastern  provinces  of  Asia.  Silk  stuffs 
were  of  such  high  price  in  ancient  Rome  that  only  a  few  persons 
of  the  first  rank  were  able  to  purchase  them.  Under  Aurelian, 
A.D.  270,  a  pound  of  silk  was  equal  in  value  to  a  pound  of  gold. 
"Absit  ut  auro  fila  pensentur.  Libra  enim  auri  tune  libra  serici 
fuit."  (Vopiscus,  in  Aureliano.)  Justinian,  in  the  sixth  century, 
introduced  the  art  of  rearing  silk-worms  into  Greece,  which  ren- 
dered the  commodity  somewhat  more  plentiful,  though  still  it  was 
of  such  great  value  as  to  remain  an  article  of  luxury  or  magnifi- 
cence, reserved  only  for  persons  of  the  first  order,  or  for  public 
solemnities.  Roger  I.,  king  of  Sicily,  about  the  year  1130,  car- 
ried off  a  number  of  artificers  in  the  silk-trade  from  Athens,  and, 
settling  them  in  Palermo,  introduced  the  culture  of  silk  into  his 
kingdom,  from  which  it  was  communicated  to  other  parts  of 
Italy.  (Giannon.,  Hist,  of  Naples,  b.  xi.  c.  7.)  This  seems  to 
have  rendered  silk  so  common  that  about  the  middle  of  the  four- 
teenth century  a  thousand  citizens  of  Genoa  appeared  in  one  pro- 
cession clad  in  silk  robes.  Sugar  is  likewise  a  production  of  the 


316  PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

East.  Some  plants  of  the  sugar-cane  were  brought  from  Asia ; 
and  the  first  attempt  to  cultivate  them  in  Sicily  was  made  about 
the  middle  of  the  twelfth  century.  From  thence  they  were  trans- 
planted into  the  southern  provinces  of  Spain.  From  Spain  they 
were  carried  to  the  Canary  and  Madeira  Isles,  and  at  length  into 
the  New  World.  Ludovico  Guicciardini,  in  enumerating  the 
goods  imported  into  Antwerp  about  the  year  1500,  mentions  the 
sugar  which  they  received  from  Spain  and  Portugal  as  a  consider- 
able article.  He  describes  that  sugar  as  the  product  of  the  Madeira 
and  Canary  Islands.  (Descritt.  de'  Paesi  Bassi,  pp.  180,  181.) 
The  sugar-cane  was  introduced  into  the  West  Indies  before  that 
time ;  but  the  cultivation  of  it  was  not  so  improved  or  so  exten- 
sive as  to  furnish  an  article  of  much  consequence  in  co.nmerce. 
In  the  Middle  Ages,  though  sugar  was  not  raised  in  such  quanti- 
ties or  employed  for  so  many  purposes  as  to  become  one  of  the 
common  necessaries  of  life,  it  appears  to  have  been  a  considerable 
article  in  the  commerce  of  the  Italian  states. 

These  various  commodities  with  which  the  Italians  furnished 
the  other  nations  of  Europe  procured  them  a  favorable  reception 
in  every  kingdom.  They  were  established  in  France  in  the 
thirteenth  century  with  most  extensive  immunities.  They  not 
only  obtained  every  indulgence  favorable  to  their  commerce,  but 
personal  rights  and  privileges  were  granted  to  them  which  the 
natives  of  the  kingdom  did  not  enjoy.  (Ordon.,  torn.  iv.  p. 
668.)  By  a  special  proviso  they  were  exempted  from  the  droit 
d'aubaine.  (Ibid.,  p.  670.)  As  the  Lombards  (a  name  frequently 
given  to  all  Italian  merchants  in  many  parts  of  Europe)  engrossed 
the  trade  of  every  kingdom  in  which  they  settled,  they  became 
masters  of  its  cash.  Money,  of  course,  was  in  their  hands  not 
only  a  sign  of  the  value  of  other  commodities,  but  became  an 
object  of  commerce  itself.  They  dealt  largely  as  bankers.  In  an 
ordinance,  A.D.  1295,  we  find  them  styled  mercatores  and  campsores. 
They  carried  on  this  as  well  as  other  branches  of  their  commerce 
with  somewhat  of  that  rapacious  spirit  which  is  natural  to  monopo- 
lizers who  are  not  restrained  by  the  competition  of  rival  traders. 
An  absurd  opinion  which  prevailed  in  the  Middle  Ages  was,  how- 
ever, in  some  measure  the  cause  of  their  exorbitant  demands,  and 


PROOFS  AND   ILLUSTRATIONS.  317 

may  be  pleaded  in  apology  for  them.  Trade  cannot  be  carried  on 
with  advantage  unless  the  persons  who  lend  a  sum  of  money  are 
allowed  a  certain  premium  for  the  use  of  it,  as  a  compensation  for 
the  risk  which  they  run  in  permitting  another  to  traffic  with  their 
stock.  This  premium  is  fixed  by  law  in  all  commercial  countries, 
and  is  called  the  legal  interest  of  money.  But  the  fathers  of  the 
Church  had  preposterously  applied  the  prohibitions  of  usury  in 
Scripture  to  the  payment  of  legal  interest,  and  condemned  it  as  a 
sin.  The  schoolmen,  misled  by  Aristotle,  whose  sentiments  they 
followed  implicitly  and  without  examination,  adopted  the  same 
error,  and  enforced  it.  (Blackstone's  Commentaries  on  the  Laws 
of  England,  vol.  ii.  p.  455.)  Thus  the  Lombards  found  them- 
selves engaged  in  a  traffic  which  was  everywhere  deemed  criminal 
and  odious.  They  were  liable  to  punishment  if  detected.  They 
were  not  satisfied,  therefore,  with  that  moderate  premium  which 
they  might  have  claimed  if  their  trade  had  been  open  and  author- 
ized by  law.  They  exacted  a  sum  proportional  to  the  danger  and 
infamy  of  a  discovery.  Accordingly,  we  find  that  it  was  usual  for 
them  to  demand  twenty  per  cent,  for  the  use  of  money  in  the 
thirteenth  century.  (Murat.,  Antiq.  Ital.,  vol.  i.  p.  893.)  About 
the  beginning  of  that  century  the  countess  of  Flanders  was  obliged 
to  borrow  money  in  order  to  pay  her  husband's  ransom.  She 
procured  the  sum  requisite  either  from  Italian  merchants  or  from 
Jews.  The  lowest  interest  which  she  paid  to  them  was  above 
twenty  per  cent.,  and  some  of  them  exacted  near  thirty.  (Martene 
and  Durand.,  Thesaur.  Anecdotorum,  vol.  i.  p.  886.)  In  the 
fourteenth  century,  A.D.  1311,  Philip  IV.  fixed  the  interest  which 
might  be  legally  exacted  in  the  fairs  of  Champagne  at  twenty  per 
cent.  (Ordon.,  torn.  i.  p.  484.)  The  interest  of  money  in  Aragon 
was  somewhat  lower.  James  I.,  A.D.  1242,  fixed  it  by  law  at 
eighteen  per  cent.  (Petr.  de  Marca,  Marca,  sive  Limes  Hispan., 
App.,  1433.)  As  late  as  the  year  1490,  it  appears  that  the  interest 
of  money  in  Placentia  was  at  the  rate  of  forty  per  cent.  This  is 
the  more  extraordinary  because  at  that  time  the  commerce  of  the 
Italian  states  was  become  considerable.  (Memorie  storiche  de 
Piacenza,  torn.  viii.  p.  104,  Piac.,  1760.)  It  appears  from  Lud. 
Guicciardini  that  Charles  V.  had  fixed  the  rate  of  interest  in  his 
27* 


3i 8  PROOFS  AND   ILLUSTRATIONS. 

dominions  in  the  Low  Countries  at  twelve  per  cent.,  and  at  the 
time  when  he  wrote,  about  the  year  1560,  it  was  not  uncommon  to 
exact  more  than  that  sum.  He  complains  of  this  as  exorbitant, 
and  points  out  its  bad  effects  both  on  agriculture  and  commerce. 
(Descritt.  de'  Paesi  Bassi,  p.  172.)  This  high  interest  of  money  is 
alone  a  proof  that  the  profits  on  commerce  were  exorbitant,  and 
that  it  was  not  carried  on  to  great  extent.  The  Lombards  were 
likewise  established  in  England  in  the  thirteenth  century,  and  a  con- 
siderable street  in  the  city  of  London  still  bears  their  name.  They 
enjoyed  great  privileges,  and  carried  on  an  extensive  commerce, 
particularly  as  bankers.  (See  Anderson's  Chronol.  Deduction, 
vol.  i.  pp.  137,  160,  204,  231,  where  the  statutes  or  other  authori- 
ties which  confirm  this  are  quoted.)  But  the  chief  mart  for  Italian 
commodities  was  at  Bruges.  Navigation  was  then  so  imperfect 
that  to  sail  from  any  port  in  the  Baltic  and  to  return  again  was  a 
voyage  too  great  to  be  performed  in  one  summer.  For  that  reason, 
a  magazine  or  storehouse,  half-way  between  the  commercial  cities 
in  the  North  and  those  in  Italy,  became  necessary.  Bruges  was 
pitched  upon  as  the  most  convenient  station.  That  choice  intro- 
duced vast  wealth  into  the  Low  Countries.  Bruges  was  at  once 
the  staple  for  English  wool,  for  the  woollen  and  linen  manufactures 
of  the  Netherlands,  for  the  naval  stores  and  other  bulky  com- 
modities of  the  North,  and  for  the  Indian  commodities  as  well  as 
domestic  productions  imported  by  the  Italian  states.  The  extent 
of  its  commerce  in  Indian  goods  with  Venice  alone  appears  from 
one  fact.  In  the  year  1318  five  Venetian  galeasses  laden  with 
Indian  commodities  arrived  at  Bruges  in  order  to  dispose  of  their 
cargoes  at  the  fair.  These  galeasses  were  vessels  of  very  con- 
siderable burden.  (L.  Guic.,  Descritt.  de'  Paesi  Bassi,  p.  174.) 
Bruges  was  the  greatest  emporium  in  all  Europe.  Many  proofs 
of  this  occur  in  the  historians  and  records  of  the  thirteenth  and 
fourteenth  centuries.  But,  instead  of  multiplying,  quotations,  I 
shall  refer  my  readers  to  Anderson,  vol.  i.  pp.  12,  137,  213,  246, 
etc.  The  nature  of  this  work  prevents  me  from  entering  into  any 
more  minute  detail,  but  there  are  some  detached  facts  which  give 
a  high  idea  of  the  wealth  both  of  the  Flemish  and  Italian  com- 
mercial states.  The  duke  of  Brabant  contracted  his  daughter  to 


PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS.  319 

the  Black  Prince,  son  of  Edward  III.  of  England,  A.D.  1339,  and 
gave  her  a  portion  which  we  may  reckon  to  be  of  equal  value  with 
three  hundred  thousand  pounds  of  our  present  money.  (Rymer's 
Foedera,  vol.  v.  p.  113.)  John  Galeazzo  Visconti,  duke  of  Milan, 
concluded  a  treaty  of  marriage  between  his  daughter  and  Lionel, 
duke  of  Clarence,  Edward's  third  son,  A.D.  1367,  and  granted  her 
a  portion  equal  to  two  hundred  thousand  pounds  of  our  present 
money.  (Rymer's  Foedera,  vol.  vi.  p.  547.)  These  exorbitant 
sums,  so  far  exceeding  what  was  then  granted  by  the  most  power- 
ful monarchs,  and  which  appear  extraordinary  even  in  the  present 
age,  when  the  wealth  of  Europe  is  so  much  increased,  must  have 
arisen  from  the  riches  which  flowed  into  those  countries  from  their 
extensive  and  lucrative  commerce.  The  first  source  of  wealth 
to  the  towns  situated  on  the  Baltic  Sea  seems  to  have  been  the 
herring-fishery, — the  shoals  of  herrings  frequenting  at  that  time  the 
coasts  of  Sweden  and  Denmark  in  the  same  manner  as  they  now 
resort  to  the  British  coasts.  The  effects  of  this  fishery  are  thus 
described  by  an  author  of  the  thirteenth  century.  The  Danes, 
says  he,  who  were  formerly  clad  in  the  poor  garb  of  sailors,  are 
now  clothed  in  scarlet,  purple,  and  fine  linen.  For  they  abound 
with  wealth  flowing  from  their  annual  fishery  on  the  coast  of 
Schonen;  so  that  all  nations  resort  to  them,  bringing  their  gold, 
silver,  and  precious  commodities,  that  they  may  purchase  herrings, 
which  the  Divine  bounty  bestows  upon  them.  Arnoldus  Lubecen- 
sis,  ap.  Conring.,  de  Urbib.  German.,  §  87. 

The  Hanseatic  League  is  the  most  powerful  commercial  confed- 
eracy known  in  history.  Its  origin  towards  the  close  of  the  twelfth 
century,  and  the  objects  of  its  union,  are  described  by  Knipschildt, 
Tractatus  Historico-Politico-Juriclicus  de  Juribus  Civitat.  Imper., 
lib.  i.  cap.  4.  Anderson  has  mentioned  the  chief  facts  with  respect 
to  their  commercial  progress,  the  extent  of  the  privileges  which 
they  obtained  in  different  countries,  their  successful  wars  with 
several  monarchs,  as  well  as  the  spirit  and  zeal  with  which  they 
contended  for  those  liberties  and  rights  without  which  it  is 
impossible  to  carry  on  commerce  to  advantage.  The  vigorous 
efforts  of  a  society  of  merchants  attentive  only  to  commercial 
objects  could  not  fail  of  diffusing  new  and  more  liberal  ideas 


320 


PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


concerning  justice  and  order  in  every  country  of  Europe  where 
they  settled. 

In  England  the  progress  of  commerce  was  extremely  slow ;  and 
the  causes  of  this  are  obvious.  During  the  Saxon  Heptarchy, 
England,  split  into  many  petty  kingdoms,  which  were  perpetually 
at  variance  with  each  other,  exposed  to  the  fierce  incursions  of  the 
Danes  and  other  Northern  pirates,  and  sunk  in  barbarity  and 
ignorance,  was  in  no  condition  to  cultivate  commerce  or  to  pursue 
any  system  of  useful  and  salutary  policy.  When  a  better  prospect 
began  to  open,  by  the  union  of  the  kingdom  under  one  monarch, 
the  Norman  conquest  .took  place.  This  occasioned  such  a  violent 
shock,  as  well  as  such  a  sudden  and  total  revolution  of  property, 
that  the  nation  did  not  recover  from  it  during  several  reigns.  By 
the  time  that  the  constitution  began  to  acquire  some  stability,  and 
the  English  had  so  incorporated  with  their  conquerors  as  to  become 
one  people,  the  nation  engaged  with  no  less  ardor  than  imprudence 
in  support  of  the  pretensions  of  their  sovereigns  to  the  crown  of 
France,  and  long  wasted  its  vigor  and  genius  in  its  wild  efforts  to 
conquer  that  kingdom.  When,  by  ill  success  and  repeated  disap- 
pointments, a  period  was  at  last  put  to  this  fatal  frenzy,  and  the 
nation,  beginning  to  enjoy  some  repose,  had  leisure  to  breathe  and 
to  gather  new  strength,  the  destructive  wars  between  the  houses 
of  York  and  Lancaster  broke  out,  and  involved  the  kingdom  in 
the  worst  of  all  calamities.  Thus,  besides  the  common  obstructions 
of  commerce  occasioned  by  the  nature  of  the' feudal  government 
and  the  state  of  manners  during  the  Middle  Ages,  its  progress  in 
England  was  retarded  by  peculiar  causes.  Such  a  succession  of 
events  adverse  to  the  commercial  spirit  was  sufficient  to  have 
checked  its  growth  although  every  other  circumstance  had  favored 
it.  The  English  were  accordingly  one  of  the  last  nations  in  Eu- 
rope who  availed  themselves  of  those  commercial  advantages 
which  were  natural  or  peculiar  to  their  country.  Before  the  reign 
of  Edward  III.,  all  the  wool  of  England,  except  a  small  quantity 
wrought  into  coarse  cloths  for  home  consumption,  was  sold  to 
the  Flemings  or  Lombards  and  manufactured  by  them.  Though 
Edward,  A.D.  1326,  began  to  allure  some  of  the  Flemish  weavers 
to  settle  in  England,  it  was  long  before  the  English  were  capable 


PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


321 


of  fabricating  cloth  for  foreign  markets,  and  the  export  of  un- 
wrought  wool  still  continued  to  be  the  chief  article  of  their 
commerce.  (Anderson,  passim.)  All  foreign  commodities  were 
brought  into  England  by  the  Lombards  or  Hanseatic  merchants. 
The  English  ports  were  frequented  by  ships  both  from  the  North 
and  South  of  Europe,  and  they  tamely  allowed  foreigners  to  reap 
all  the  profits  arising  from  the  supply  of  their  wants.  The  first 
commercial  treaty  of  England  on  record  is  that  with  Haquin,  king 
of  Norway,  A.D.  1217.  (Anders.,  vol.  i.  p.  108.)  But  the  English 
did  not  venture  to  trade  in  their  own  ships  to  the  Baltic  until  the 
beginning  of  the  fourteenth  century.  (Ibid.,  p.  151.)  It  was  after 
the  middle  of  the  fifteenth  before  they  sent  any  ship  into  the 
Mediterranean.  (Ibid.,  p.  177.)  Nor  was  it  long  before  this 
period  that  their  vessels  began  to  visit  the  ports  of  Spain  or 
Portugal.  But  though  I  have  pointed  out  the  slow  progress  of  the 
English  commerce  as  a  fact  little  attended  to,  and  yet  meriting 
consideration,  the  concourse  of  foreigners  to  the  ports  of  England, 
together  with  the  communication  among  all  the  different  countries 
in  Europe,  which  went  on  increasing  from  the  beginning  of  the 
twelfth  century,  is  sufficient  to  justify  all  the  observations  and 
reasonings  in  the  text  concerning  the  influence  of  commerce  on 
the  state  of  manners  and  of  society. 

NOTE  XXXI.— Sect.  III.  p.  162. 

I  have  not  been  able  to  discover  the  precise  manner  in  which 
the  justiza  was  appointed.  Among  the  claims  of  \\iejunta  or  union 
formed  against  James  I.,  A.D.  1264,  this  was  one:  that  the  king 
should  not  nominate  any  person  to  be  justiza  without  the  consent 
or  approbation  of  the  ricos  hombres,  or  nobles.  (Zurita,  Anales 
de  Aragon,  vol.  i.  p.  180.)  But  the  king,  in  his  answer  to  their 
remonstrance,  asserts  "  that  it  was  established  by  immemorial 
practice,  and  was  conformable  to  the  laws  of  the  kingdom,  that 
the  king,  in  virtue  of  his  royal  prerogative,  should  name  the 
justiza."  (Zurita,  ibid.,  181 ;  Blanca,  656.)  From  another  pas- 
sage in  Zurita,  it  appears  that  while  the  Aragonese  enjoyed  the 
privilege  of  the  union,  i.e.,  the  power  of  confederating  against 
o* 


322 


PROOFS  AND   ILLUSTRATIONS. 


their  sovereign  as  often  as  they  conceived  that  he  had  violated 
any  of  their  rights  and  immunities,  the  justiza  was  not  only 
nominated  by  the  king,  but  held  his  office  during  the  king's 
pleasure.  Nor  was  this  practice  attended  with  any  bad  effects,  as 
the  privilege  of  the  union  was  a  sufficient  and  effectual  check  to 
any  abuse  of  the  royal  prerogative.  But  when  the  privilege  of 
the  union  was  abolished  as  dangerous  to  the  order  and  peace  of 
society,  it  was  agreed  that  the  justiza  should  continue  in  office 
during  life.  Several  kings,  however,  attempted  to  remove  justizas 
who  were  obnoxious  to  them,  and  they  sometimes  succeeded  in 
the  attempt.  In  order  to  guard  against  this  encroachment,  which 
would*  have  destroyed  the  intention  of  the  institution  and  have 
rendered  the  justiza  the  dependant  and  tool  of  the  crown,  instead 
of  the  guardian  of  the  people,  a  law  was  enacted  in  the  cortes, 
A.I).  1442,  ordaining  that  the  justiza  should  continue  in  office 
during  life,  and  should  not  be  removed  from  it  unless  by  the 
authority  of  the  cortes.  (Fueros  y  Observancias  del  Reyno  de 
Aragon,  lib.  i.  p.  22.)  By  former  laws,  the  person  of  the  justiza 
had  been  declared  sacred,  and  he  was  responsible  only  to  the 
cortes.  (Ibid.,  p.  15,  b.)  Zurita  and  Blanca,  who  both  published 
their  histories  while  the  justiza  of  Aragon  retained  the  full  exer- 
cise of  his  privileges  and  jurisdiction,  have  neglected  to  explain 
several  circumstances  with  regard  to  the  office  of  that  respectable 
magistrate,  because  they  addressed  their  works  to  their  country- 
men, who  were  well  acquainted  with  every  particular  concerning 
the  functions  of  a  judge  to  whom  they  looked  up  as  to  the  guard- 
ian of  their  liberties.  It  is  vain  to  consult  the  later  historians  of 
Spain  about  any  point  with  respect  to  which  the  excellent  his- 
torians whom  I  have  named  are  silent.  The  ancient  constitution 
of  their  country  was  overturned,  and  despotism  established  on 
the  ruin  of  its  liberties,  when  the  writers  of  this  and  the  preceding 
century  composed  their  histories,  and  on  that  account  they  had 
little  curiosity  to  know  the  nature  of  those  institutions  to  which 
their  ancestors  owed  the  enjoyment  of  freedom,  or  they  were 
afraid  to  describe  them  with  much  accuracy.  The  spirit  with 
which  Mariana,  his  continuator  Miniana,  and  Fe r re ras,  write  their 
histories,  is  very  different  from  that  of  the  two  historians  of  Aragon 


PROOFS  AND   ILLUSTRATIONS.  323 

from  whom  I  have  taken  my  account  of  the  constitution  of  that 
kingdom. 

Two  circumstances  concerning  the  justiza,  besides  those  which 
I  have  mentioned  in  the  text,  are  worthy  of  observation,  i.  None 
of  the  ricos  hombres,  or  noblemen  of  the  first  order,  could  be 
appointed  justiza.  He  was  taken  out  of  the  second  class  of 
cavalleros,  who  seem  to  have  been  nearly  of  the  same  condition 
or  rank  with  gentlemen  or  commoners  in  Great  Britain.  (Fueros 
y  Observancias  del  Reyno,  etc.,  lib.  i.  p.  21,  b.)  The  reason  was, 
by  the  laws  of  Aragon  the  ricos  hombres  were  not  subject  to 
capital  punishment ;  but,  as  it  was  necessary  for  the  security  of 
liberty  that  the  justiza  should  be  accountable  for  the  manner  in 
which  he  executed  the  high  trust  reposed  in  him,  it  was  a  power- 
ful restraint  upon  him  to  know  that  he  was  liable  to  be  punished 
capitally.  (Blanca,  pp.  657,  756;  Zurita,  torn.  ii.  p.  229;  Fueros 
y  Observancias,  lib.  ix.  pp.  182,  b,  183.)  It  appears,  too,  from 
many  passages  in  Zurita  that  the  justiza  was  appointed  to  check 
the  domineering  and  oppressive  spirit  of  the  nobles,  as  well  as  to 
set  bounds  to  the  power  of  the  monarch,  and  therefore  he  was 
chosen  from  an  order  of  citizens  equally  interested  in  opposing 
both. 

2.  A  magistrate  possessed  of  such  vast  powers  as  the  justiza 
might  have  exercised  them  in  a  manner  pernicious  to  the  state 
if  he  himself  had  been  subject  to  no  control.  A  constitutional 
remedy  was  on  that  account  provided  against  this  danger.  Seven- 
teen persons  were  chosen  by  lot  in  each  meeting  of  the  cortes. 
These  formed  a  tribunal  called  the  court  of  inquisition  into  the 
office  of  justiza.  This  court  met  at  three  stated  terms  in  each 
year.  Every  person  had  liberty  of  complaining  to  it  of  any 
iniquity  or  neglect  of  duty  in  the  justiza,  or  in  the  inferior  judges 
who  acted  in  his  name.  The  justiza  and  his  deputies  were  called 
to  answer  for  their  conduct.  The  members  of  the  court  passed 
sentence  by  ballot.  They  might  punish  by  degradation,  confisca- 
tion of  goods,  or  even  with  death.  The  law  which  erected  this 
court  and  regulated  the  form  of  its  procedure  was  enacted  A.D. 
1461.  (Zurita,  Anales,  iv.  IO2;  Blanca,  Comment.  Rer.  Aragon., 
770.)  Previous  to  this  period,  inquiry  was  made  into  the  conduct 


324 


PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


of  the  justiza,  though  not  with  the  same  formality.  He  was, 
from  the  first  institution  of  the  office,  subject  to  the  review  of  the 
cortes.  The  constant  dread  of  such  an  impartial  and  severe 
inquiry  into  his  behavior  was  a  powerful  motive  to  the  vigilant 
and  faithful  discharge  of  his  duty.  A  remarkable  instance  of  the 
authority  of  the  justiza  when  opposed  to  that  of  the  king  occurs 
in  the  year  1386.  By  the  constitution  of  Aragon,  the  eldest  son 
or  heir-apparent  of  the  crown  possessed  considerable  power  and 
jurisdiction  in  the  kingdom.  (Fueros  y  Observancias  del  Reyno 
de  Aragon,  lib.  i.  p.  16.)  Peter  IV.,  instigated  by  a  second  wife, 
attempted  to  deprive  his  son  of  this,  and  enjoined  his  subjects  to 
yield  him  no  obedience.  The  prince  immediately  applied  to  the 
justiza,  "  the  safeguard  and  defence,"  says  Zurita,  "  against  all 
violence  and  oppression."  The  justiza  granted  him  \.\\e_ftrma  de 
derecho,  the  effect  of  which  was  that  upon,  his  giving  surety  to 
appear  in  judgment  he  could  not  be  deprived  of  any  immunity  or 
privilege  which  he  possessed,  but  in  consequence  of  a  legal  trial 
before  the  justiza  and  of  a  sentence  pronounced  by  him.  This 
was  published  throughout  the  kingdom,  and,  notwithstanding  the 
proclamation  in  contradiction  to  this  which  had  been  issued  by 
the  king,  the  prince  continued  in  the  exercise  of  all  his  rights, 
and  his  authority  was  universally  recognized.  Zurita,  Anales  de 
Aragon,  torn.  ii.  p.  385. 

NOTE  XXXII.— Sect.  III.  p.  163. 

I  have  been  induced,  by  the  concurring  testimony  of  many 
respectable  authors,  to  mention  this  as  the  constitutional  form 
of  the  oath  of  allegiance  which  the  Aragonese  took  to  their  sove- 
reigns. I  must  acknowledge,  however,  that  I  have  not  found  this 
singular  oath  in  any  Spanish  author  whom  I  have  had  an  oppor- 
tunity of  consulting.  It  is  mentioned  neither  by  Zurita,  nor 
Blanca,  nor  Argensola,  nor  Sayas,  who  were  all  historiographers 
appointed  by  the  cortes  of  Aragon  to  record  the  transactions  of 
the  kingdom.  All  these  writers  possess  a  merit  which  is  very 
rare  among  historians.  They  are  extremely  accurate  in  tracing 
the  progress  of  the  laws  and  constitution  of  their  country.  Their 


PROOFS  AND   ILLUSTRATIONS. 


325 


silence  with  respect  to  this  creates  some  suspicion  concerning  the 
genuineness  of  the  oath.  But  as  it  is  mentioned  by  so  many 
authors,  who  produce  the  ancient  Spanish  words  in  which  it  is 
expressed,  it  is  probable  that  they  have  taken  it  from  some  writer 
of  credit  whose  works  have  not  fallen  into  my  hands.  The  spirit 
of  the  oath  is  perfectly  agreeable  to  the  genius  of  the  Aragonese 
constitution.  Since  the  publication  of  the  first  edition,  the  learned 
M.  Totze,  Professor  of  History  at  Batzow,  in  the  duchy  of  Meck- 
lenburg, has  been  so  good  as  to  point  out  to  me  a  Spanish  author 
of  great  authority  who  has  published  the  words  of  this  oath.  It 
is  Antonio  Perez,  a  native  of  Aragon,  secretary  to  Philip  II.  The 
words  of  the  oath  are,  "Nos  que  valemos  tanto  como  vos,  os 
hazemos  nuestro  rey  y  senor,  con  tal  que  nos  guardeys  nuestros 
fueros  y  libertades,  y  si  No,  "No."  Las  Obras  y  Relaciones  de 
Ant.  Perez,  8vo,  por  Juan  de  la  Planche,  1631,  p.  143. 

The  privilege  of  union  which  I  have  mentioned  in  the  preceding 
note  and  alluded  to  in  the  text  is  indeed  one  of  the  most  singular 
which  could  take  place  in  a  regular  government,  and  the  oath  that 
I  have  quoted  expresses  nothing  more  than  this  constitutional 
privilege  entitled  the  Aragonese  to  perform.  If  the  king  or  his 
ministers  violated  any  of  the  laws  or  immunities  of  the  Aragonese, 
and  did  not  grant  immediate  redress  in  consequence  of  their  repre- 
sentations and  remonstrances,  the  nobles  of  the  first  rank,  or  ricos 
hombres  de  natura,  y  de  mesnada,  the  equestrian  order,  or  the 
nobility  of  the  second  class,  called  hidalgos  y  infanciones,  together 
with  the  magistrates  of  cities,  might,  either  in  the  cortes  or  in  a 
voluntary  assembly,  join  in  union,  and,  binding  themselves  by 
mutual  oaths  and  the  exchange  of  hostages  to  be  faithful  tp  each 
other,  they  might  require  the  king,  in  the  name  and  by  the  au- 
thority of  this  body  corporate,  to  grant  them  redress.  If  the  king 
refused  to  comply  with  their  request,  or  took  arms  in  order  to 
oppose  them,  they  might,  in  virtue  of  the  privilege  of  union,  in- 
stantly withdraw  their  allegiance  from  the  king,  refuse  to  acknowl- 
edge him  as  their  sovereign,  and  proceed  to  elect  another  monarch ; 
nor  did  they  incur  any  guilt  or  become  liable  to  any  prosecution 
on  that  account.  (Blanca,  Com.  Rer.  Arag.,  661,  669.)  This 
union  did  not  resemble  the  confederacies  in  other  feudal  king- 
Charles.— Vol.  I.  28 


3 26  PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

cloms.  It  was  a  constitutional  association,  in  which  legal  privi- 
leges were  vested,  which  issued  its  mandates  under  a  common 
seal,  and  proceeded  in  all  its  operations  by  regular  and  ascertained 
forms.  This  dangerous  right  was  not  only  claimed,  but  exercised. 
In  the  year  1287  the  Aragonese  formed  a  union  in  opposition  to 
Alfonso  III.,  and  obliged  that  king  not  only  to  comply  with  their 
demands,  but  to  ratify  a  privilege  so  fatal  to  the  power  of  the 
crown.  (Zurita,  Anales,  torn.  i.  p.  322.)  In  the  year  1347  a 
union  was  formed  against  Peter  IV.  with  equal  success,  and  a  new 
ratification  of  the  privilege  was  extorted.  (Zurita,  torn.  ii.  p.  202.) 
But  soon  after,  the  king  having  defeated  the  leaders  of  the  union 
in  iJaltle,  the  privilege  of  union  was  finally  abrogated  in  the  cortes, 
and  all  the  laws  or  records  which  contained  any  confirmation  of 
it  were  cancelled  or  destroyed.  The  king,  in  presence  of  the 
cortes,  called  for  the  act  whereby  he  had  ratified  the  union,  and, 
having  wounded  his  hand  with  his  poniard,  he  held  it  above  the 
record.  "  That  privilege,"  says  he,  "  which  has  been  so  fatal  to 
the  kingdom,  and  so  injurious  to  royalty,  should  be  effaced  with 
the  blood  of  a  king."  (Zurita,  torn.  ii.  p.  229.)  The  law  abolish- 
ing the  union  is  published,  Fueros  y  Observancias,  lib.  ix.  p. 
178.  From  that  period  the  justiza  became  the  constitutional 
guardian  of  public  liberty,  and  his  power  and  jurisdiction  occa- 
sioned none  of  those  violent  convulsions  which  the  tumultuary 
privilege  of  the  union  was  apt  to  produce.  The  constitution  of 
Aragon,  however,  still  remained  extremely  free.  One  source  of 
this  liberty  arose  from  the  early  admission  of  the  representatives 
of  cities  into  the  cortes.  It  seems  probable  from  Zurita  that  bur- 
gesses were  constituent  members  of  the  cortes  from  its  first  insti- 
tution. He  mentions  a  meeting  of  cortes,  A.D.  1133,  in  which 
the  procuradores  de  las  ciudades  y  villas  were  present.  (Tom.  i. 
p.  51.)  This  is  the  constitutional  language  in  which  their  pres- 
ence is  declared  in  the  cortes,  arter  the  journals  of  that  court  were 
regularly  kept.  It  is  probable  that  an  historian  so  accurate  as 
Zurita  would  not  have  used  these  words  if  he  had  not  taken  them 
from  some  authentic  record.  It  was  more  than  a  century  after 
this  period  before  the  representatives  of  cities  formed  a  constituent 
part  in  the  supreme  assemblies  of  the  other  European  nations. 


PROOFS  AND   ILLUSTRATIONS. 


327 


The  free  spirit  of  the  Aragonese  government  is  conspicuous  in 
many  particulars.  The  cortes  not  only  opposed  the  attempts  of 
their  kings  to  increase  their  revenue  or  to  extend  their  prerogative, 
but  they  claimed  rights  and  exercised  powers  which  will  appear 
extraordinary  even  in  a  country  accustomed  to  the  enjoyment  of 
liberty.  In  the  year  1286  the  cortes  claimed  the  privilege  of 
naming  the  members  of  the  king's  council  and  the  officers  of  his 
household,  and  they  seem  to  have  obtained  it  for  some  time. 
(Zurita,  torn.  i.  pp.  303,  307.)  It  was  the  privilege  of  the  cortes 
to  name  the  officers  who  commanded  the  troops  raised  by  their 
authority.  This  seems  to  be  evident  from  a  passage  in  Zurita. 
When  the  cortes,  in  the  year  1503,  raised  a  body  of  troops  to  be 
employed  in  Italy,  it  passed  an  act  empowering  the  king  to  name 
the  officers  who  should  command  them  (Zurita,  torn.  v.  p.  274); 
which  plainly  implies  that  without  this  warrant  it  did  not  belong 
to  him  in  virtue  of  his  prerogative.  In  the  Fueros  y  Observancias 
del  Reyno  de  Aragon,  two  general  declarations  of  the  rights  and 
privileges  of  the  Aragonese  are  published, — the  one  in  the  reign 
of  Pedro  I.,  A.D.  1283,  and  the  other  in  that  of  James  II.,  A.D. 
1325.  They  are  of  such  a  length  that  I  cannot  insert  them;  but 
it  is  evident  from  these  that  not  only  the  privileges  of  the  nobility, 
but  the  rights  of  the  people,  personal  as  well  as  political,  were  at 
that  period  more  extensive  and  better  understood  than  in  any 
kingdom  in  Europe.  (Lib.  i.  pp.  7,  9.)  The  oath  by  which  the 
king  bound  himself  to  observe  those  rights  and  liberties  of  the 
people  was  very  solemn.  (Ibid.,  p.  14,  b,  and  p.  15.)  The  cortes 
of  Aragon  discovered  not  only  the  jealousy  and  vigilance  which 
are  peculiar  to  free  states,  in  guarding  the  essential  parts  of  the 
constitution,  but  they  were  scrupulously  attentive  to  observe  the 
most  minute  forms  and  ceremonies  to  which  they  were  accus- 
tomed. According  to  the  established  laws  and  customs  of 
Aragon,  no  foreigner  had  liberty  to  enter  the  hall  in  which  the 
cortes  assembled.  Ferdinand,  in  the  year  1481,  appointed  his 
queen,  Isabella,  regent  of  the  kingdom  while  he  was  absent 
during  the  course  of  the  campaign.  The  law  required  that  a 
regent  should  take  the  oath  of  fidelity  in  presence  of  the  cortes; 
but,  as  Isabella  was  a  foreigner,  before  she  could  be  admitted  the 


328  PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

cortes  thought  it  necessary  to  pass  an  act  authorizing  the  serjeant- 
porter  to  open  the  door  of  the  hall  and  to  allow  her  to  enter: 
"  so  attentive  were  they,"  says  Zurita,  "  to  observe  their  laws  and 
forms,  even  such  as  may  seem  the  most  minute."  Tom.  iv.  p.  313. 

The  Aragonese  were  no  less  solicitous  to  secure  the  personal 
rights  of  individuals  than  to  maintain  the  freedom  of  the  consti- 
tution ;  and  the  spirit  of  their  statutes  with  respect  to  both  was 
equally  liberal.  Two  facts  relative  to  this  matter  merit  observation. 
By  an  express  statute  in  the  year  1335  it  was  declared  to  be  unlaw- 
ful to  put  any  native  Aragonese  to  the  torture.  If  he  could  not  be 
convicted  by  the  testimony  of  witnesses,  he  was  instantly  absolved. 
(Ztlrita,  torn.  ii.  p.  66.)  Zurita  records  the  regulation  with  the 
satisfaction  natural  to  an  historian  when  he  contemplates  the 
humanity  of  his  countrymen.  He  compares  the  laws  of  Aragon 
to  those  of  Rome,  as  both  exempted  citizens  and  freemen  from 
such  ignominious  and  cruel  treatment  and  had  recourse  to  it  only 
in  the  trial  of  slaves.  Zurita  had  reason  to  bestow  such  an  en- 
comium on  the  laws  of  his  country.  Torture  was  at  that  time 
permitted  by  the  laws  of  every  other  nation  in  Europe.  Even 
in  England,  from  which  the  mild  spirit  of  legislation  has  long 
banished  it,  torture  was  not  at  that  time  unknown.  Observations 
on  the  Statutes,  chiefly  the  more  Ancient,  etc.,  p.  66. 

The  other  fact  shows  that  the  same  spirit  which  influenced  the 
legislature  prevailed  among  the  people.  In  the  year  1485  the 
religious  zeal  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella  prompted  them  to  intro- 
duce the  Inquisition  into  Aragon.  Though  the  Aragonese  were  no 
less  superstitiously  attached  than  the  other  Spaniards  to  the  Roman 
Catholic  faith,  and  no  less  desirous  to  root  out  the  seeds  of  error 
and  of  heresy  which  the  Jews  and  Moors  had  scattered,  yet  they 
took  arms  against  the  inquisitors,  murdered  the  chief  inquisitor, 
and  long  opposed  the  establishment  of  that  tribunal.  The  reason 
which  they  gave  f^r  their  conduct  was  that  the  mode  of  trial  in 
the  Inquisition  was  inconsistent  with  liberty.  The  criminal  was 
not  confronted  with  the  witnesses,  he  was  not  acquainted  with 
what  they  deposed  against  him,  he  was  subjected  to  torture,  and 
the  goods  of  persons  condemned  were  confiscated.  Zurita,  Anales, 
torn.  iv.  p.  341. 


PROOFS  AND   ILLUSTRATIONS.  329 

The  form  of  government  in  the  kingdom  of  Valencia  and  prin- 
cipality of  Catalonia,  which  were  annexed  to  the  crown  of  Aragon, 
was  likewise  extremely  favorable  to  liberty.  The  Valencians  en- 
joyed the  privilege  of  union  in  the  same  manner  with  the  Ara- 
gonese.  But  they  had  no  magistrate  resembling  the  justiza.  The 
Catalonians  were  no  less  jealous  of  their  liberties  than  the  two 
other  nations,  and  no  less  bold  in  asserting  them.  But  it  is  not 
necessary  for  illustrating  the  following  history  to  enter  into  any 
further  detail  concerning  the  peculiarities  in  the  constitution  of 
these  kingdoms. 

NOTE  XXXIII.— Sect.  III.  p.  164. 

I  have  searched  in  vain  among  the  historians  of  Castile  for  such 
information  as  might  enable  me  to  trace  the  progress  of  laws  and 
government  in  Castile,  or  to  explain  the  nature  of  the  constitution 
with  the  same  degree  of  accuracy  wherewith  I  have  described 
the  political  state  of  Aragon.  It  is  manifest,  not  only  from  the 
historians  of  Castile,  but  from  its  ancient  laws,  particularly  the 
Fuero  Juzgo,  that  its  monarchs  were  originally  elective.  (Leyes, 
2,  5,  8.)  They  were  chosen  by  the  bishops,  the  nobility,  and  the 
people.  (Ibid.)  It  appears  from  the  same  venerable  code  of 
laws  that  the  prerogative  of  the  Castilian  monarchs  was  extremely 
limited.  Villaldiego,  in  his  commentary  on  the  Fuero  Juzgo,  pro- 
duces many  facts  and  authorities  in  confirmation  of  both  these 
particulars.  Dr.  Geddes,  who  was  well  acquainted  with  Spanish 
literature,  complains  that  he  could  find  no  author  who  gave  a 
distinct  account  of  the  cortes  or  supreme  assembly  of  the  nation, 
or  who  described  the  manner  in  which  it  was  held,  or  mentioned 
the  precise  number  of  members  who  had  a  right  to  sit  in  it.  He 
produces,  however,  from  Gil  Gonzales  d'Avila,  who  published  a 
history  of  Henry  II.,  the  writ  of  summons  to  the  town  of  Abula, 
requiring  it  to  choose  representatives  to  appear  in  the  cortes 
which  he  called  to  meet  A.D.  1390.  From  this  we  learn  that 
prelates,  dukes,  marquises,  the  masters  of  the  three  military 
orders,  condes,  and  ricos  hombres,  were  required  to  attend.  These 
composed  the  bodies  of  ecclesiastics  and  nobles,  which  formed 
28* 


33° 


PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


two  members  of  t'  e  legislature.  The  cities  which  sent  members 
to  that  meeting  of  the  cortes  were  forty-eight.  The  number  of 
representatives  (for  the  cities  had  right  to  choose  more  or  fewer 
according  to  their  respective  dignity)  amounted  to  a  hundred  and 
twenty-five.  (Geddes,  Miscellaneous  Tracts,  vol.  i.  p.  331.)  Zu- 
rita,  having  occasion  to  mention  the  cortes  which  Ferdinand  held 
at  Toro,  A.D.  1505,  in  order  to  secure  for  himself  the  government 
of  Castile  after  the  death  of  Isabella,  records,  with  his  usual  accu- 
racy, the  names  of  the  members  present,  and  of  the  cities  which 
they  represented.  From  that  list  it  appears  that  only  eighteen 
cities  had  deputies  in  this  assembly.  (Anales  de  Aragon,  torn, 
vi.  p.  3.)  What  was  the  occasion  of  this  great  difference  in  the 
number  of  cities  represented  in  these  two  meetings  of  the  cortes, 
I  am  unable  to  explain. 

NOTE  XXXIV.— Sect.  III.  p.  166. 

A  great  part  of  the  territory  in  Spain  was  engrossed  by  the 
nobility.  L.  Marinseus  Siculus,  who  composed  his  treatise  De 
Rebus  Hispaniae  during  the  reign  of  Charles  V.,  gives  a  catalogue 
of  the  Spanish  nobility,  together  with  the  yearly  rent  of  their 
estates.  According  to  his  account,  which  he  affirms  was  as  accu- 
rate as  the  nature  of  the  subject  would  admit,  the  sum  total  of  the 
annual  revenue  of  their  lands  amounted  to  one  million  four  hun- 
dred and  eighty-two  thousand  ducats.  If  we  make  allowance  for 
the  great  difference  in  the  value  of  money  in  the  fifteenth  century 
from  that  which  it  now  bears,  and  consider  that  the  catalogue  of 
Marinseus  includes  only  the  titulados,  or  nobility  whose  families 
were  distinguished  by  some  honorary  title,  their  wealth  must 
appear  very  great.  (L.  Marinaeus,  ap.  Schott.,  Script.  Hispan., 
vol.  i.  p.  323.)  The  commons  of  Castile,  in  their  contests  with 
the  crown,  which  I  shall  hereafter  relate,  complain  of  the  exten- 
sive property  of  the  nobility  as  extremely  pernicious  to  the  king- 
dom. In  one  of  their  manifestoes  they  assert  that  from  Valladolid 
to  St.  Jago  in  Galicia,  which  was  a  hundred  leagues,  the  crown 
did  not  possess  more  than  three  villages.  All  the  rest  belonged 
to  the  nobility,  and  could  be  subjected  to  no  public  burden. 


PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS.  331 

(Sandoval,  Vicla  del  Emperador  Carlos  V.,  vol.  i.  p.  422.)  It 
appears  from  the  testimony  of  authors  quoted  by  Bovadilla  that 
these  extensive  possessions  were  bestowed  upon  the  ricos  hombres, 
hidalgos,  and  cavalleros  by  the  kings  of  Castile  in  reward  for  the 
assistance  which  they  had  received  from  them  in  expelling  the 
Moors.  They  likewise  obtained  by  the  same  means  a  consider- 
able influence  in  the  cities,  many  of  which  anciently  depended 
upon  the  nobility.  Politica  para  Corregidores,  Amb.,  1750,  fol., 
vol.  i.  pp.  440,  442, 

NOTE  XXXV.— Sect.  III.  p.  168. 

I  have  been  able  to  discover  nothing  certain,  as  I  observed, 
Note  XVIII.,  with  respect  to  the  origin  of  communities  or  free 
cities  in  Spain.  It  is  probable  that  as  soon  as  the  considerable 
towns  were  recovered  from  the  Moors  the  inhabitants  who  fixed 
their  residence  in  them,  being  persons  of  distinction  and  credit, 
had  all  the  privilege  of  municipal  government  and  jurisdiction 
conferred  upon  them.  Many  striking  proofs  occur  of  the  splendor, 
wealth,  and  power  of  the  Spanish  cities.  Hieronymus  Paulus 
wrote  a  description  of  Barcelona  in  the  year  1491,  and  compares 
the  dimensions  of  the  town  to  that  of  Naples,  and  the  elegance 
of  its  buildings,  the  variety  of  its  manufactures,  and  the  extent 
of  its  commerce,  to  Florence.  (Hieron.  Paulus,  ap.  Schott., 
Script.  Hisp.,  vol.  ii.  p.  844.)  Marinreus  describes  Toledo  as  a 
large  and  populous  city.  A  great  number  of  its  inhabitants  were 
persons  of  quality  and  of  illustrious  rank.  Its  commerce  was 
great.  It  carried  on  with  great  activity  and  success  the  manufac- 
tures of  silk  and  wool ;  and  the  number  of  inhabitants  employed 
in  these  two  branches  of  trade  amounted  nearly  to  ten  thousand. 
(Marin.,  ubi  supra,  p.  308.)  "  I  know  no  city,"  says  he,  "  that  I 
would  prefer  to  Valladolid  for  elegance  and  splendor."  (Ibid., 
p.  312.)  We  may  form  some  estimate  of  its  populousness  from 
the  following  circumstances.  The  citfzens  having  taken  arms  in 
the  year  1516  in  order  to  oppose  a  measure  concerted  by  Cardinal 
Ximenes,  they  mustered  in  the  city,  and  in  the  territory  which 
belonged  to  it,  thirty  thousand  fighting-men.  (Sandoval,  Vida  del 


332 


PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


Emper.  Carlos  V.,  torn.  i.  p.  81.)  The  manufactures  carried  on  in 
the  towns  of  Spain  were  not  intended  merely  for  home  consump- 
tion; they  were  exported  to  foreign  countries,  and  their  commerce 
was  a  consideiable  source  of  wealth  to  the  inhabitants.  The 
maritime  laws  of  Barcelona  are  the  foundation  of  mercantile 
jurisprudence  in  modern  times,  as  the  Leges  Rhodi?e  were 
among  the  ancients.  All  the  commercial  states  in  Italy  adopted 
these  laws  and  regulated  their  trade  according  to  them.  (Sandi, 
Storia  civile  Veneziana,  vol.  ii.  p.  865.)  It  appears  from  several 
ordinances  of  the  kings  of  France  that  the  merchants  of  Aragon 
and  Castile  were  received  on  the  same  footing  and  admitted  to  the 
same  privileges  with  those  of  Italy.  (Ordonnances  des  Roys,  etc., 
torn.  ii.  p.  135,  torn.  iii.  pp.  166,  504,  635.)  Cities  in  such  a 
flourishing  state  became  a  respectable  part  of  the  society,  and 
were  entitled  to  a  considerable  share  in  the  legislature.  The 
magistrates  of  Barcelona  aspired  to  the  highest  honor  a  Spanish 
subject  can  enjoy,  that  of  being  covered  in  the  presence  of  their 
sovereign,  and  of  being  treated  as  grandees  of  the  kingdom. 
Origen  de  la  Dignidad  de  Grande  de  Castilla,  por  Don  Alonso 
Carillo,  Madrid,  1657,  p.  18. 

NOTE  XXXVI.— Sect.  III.  p.  171. 

The  military  order  of  St.  Jago,  the  most, honorable  and  opulent 
of  the  three  Spanish  orders,  was  instituted  about  the  year  1170. 
The  bull  of  confirmation  by  Alexander  III.  is  dated  A.D.  1176. 
At  that  time  a  considerable  part  of  Spain  still  remained  under 
subjection  to  the  Moors,  and  the  whole  country  was  much  exposed 
to  depredations  not  only  of  the  enemy,  but  of  banditti.  It  is  no 
wonder,  then,  that  an  institution  the  object  of  which  was  to 
oppose  the  enemies  of  the  Christian  faith,  and  to  restrain  and 
punish  those  who  disturbed  the  public  peace,  should  be  extremely 
popular  and  meet  with  general  encouragement.  The  wealth  and 
power  of  the  order  became  so  great  that,  according  to  one  his- 
torian, the  Grand  Master  of  St.  Jago  was  the  person  in  Spain  of 
greatest  power  and  dignity  next  to  the  king.  (XX.  Anton.  Ne- 
brissensis,  ap.  Schott.,  Script.  Ilisp.,  i.  812.)  Another  historian 


PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


333 


observes  that  the  order  possessed  every  thing  in  Castile  that  a  king 
would  most  desire  to  obtain.  •  (Zurita,  Anales,  v.  22.)  The  knights 
took  the  vows  of  obedience,  of  poverty,  and  of  conjugal  chastity. 
By  the  former  they  were  bound  implicitly  to  obey  the  commands 
of  their  grand  master.  The  order  could  bring  into  the  field  a 
thousand  men-at-arms.  (AL\.  Ant.  Nebriss.,  p.  813.)  If,  as  we 
have  reason  to  believe,  these  men-at-arms  were  accompanied  as 
was  usual  at  that  age,  this  was  a  formidable  body  of  cavalry. 
There  belonged  to  this  order  eighty-four  commanderies,  and  two 
hundred  priories  and  other  benefices.  (Dissertations  sur  la  Cheva- 
lerie,  par  Hon.  de  Ste.  Marie,  p.  262.)  It  is  obvious  how  formi- 
dable to  his  sovereign  the  command  of  these  troops,  the  adminis- 
tration of  such  revenues,  and  the  disposal  of  so  many  offices  must 
have  rendered  a  subject.  The  other  two  orders,  though  inferior 
to  that  of  St.  Jago  in  power  and  wealth,  were  nevertheless  very 
considerable  fraternities.  When  the  conquest  of  Granada  deprived 
the  knights  of  St.  Jago  of  those  enemies  against  whom  their  zeal 
was  originally  directed,  superstition  found  out  a  new  object  in 
defence  of  which  they  engaged  to  employ  their  courage.  To  their 
usual  oath  they  added  the  following  clause :  "  We  do  swear  to 
believe,  to  maintain,  and  to  contend  in  public  and  private,  that 
the  Virgin  Mary,  the  Mother  of  God,  our  Lady,  was  conceived 
without  the  stain  of  original  sin."  This  addition  was  made  about 
the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  century.  (Honore  de  Ste.  Marie, 
Dissertations,  etc.,  p.  263.)  Nor  is  such  a  singular  engagement 
peculiar  to  the  order  of  St.  Jago.  The  members  of  the  second 
military  order  in  Spain,  that  of  Calatrava,  equally  zealous  to 
employ  their  prowess  in  defence  of  the  honors  of  the  Blessed 
Virgin,  have  likewise  professed  themselves  her  true  knights. 
Their  vow,  conceived  in  terms  more  theologically  accurate  than 
that  of  St.  Jago,  may  afford  some  amusement  to  an  English 
reader.  "  I  vow  to  God,  to  the  grand  master,  and  to  you  who 
here  represent  his  person,  that  now,  and  forever,  I  will  maintain 
and  contend  that  the  Virgin  Mary,  Mother  of  God,  our  Lady,  was 
conceived  without  original  sin,  and  never  incurred  the  pollution 
of  it ;  but  that  in  the  moment  of  her  happy  conception,  and  of 
the  union  of  her  soul  with  her  body,  the  Divine  grace  prevented 


334 


PROOFS  AND   ILLUSTRATIONS. 


and  preserved  her  from  original  guilt,  by  the  merits  of  the  passion 
and  death  of  Christ,  our  Redeemer,  her  future  Son,  foreseen  in  the 
Divine  counsel,  by  which  she  was  truly  redeemed,  and  by  a  more 
noble  kind  of  redemption  than  any  of  the  children  of  Adam.  In 
the  belief  of  this  truth,  and  in  maintaining  the  honor  of  the  most 
Holy  Virgin,  through  the  strength  of  Almighty  God,  I  will  live 
and  will  die."  (Definiciones  de  la  Orden  de  Calatrava,  conforme 
al  Capitulo  General  en  1652,  fol.,  Madr.,  1748,  p.  153.)  Though 
the  Church  of  Rome  hath  prudently  avoided  to  give  its  sanction 
to  the  doctrine  of  the  immaculate  conception,  and  the  two  great 
monastic  orders  of  St.  Dominic  and  St.  Francis  have  espoused 
opposite  opinions  concerning  it,  the  Spaniards  are  such  ardent 
champions  for  the  honor  of  the  Virgin  that  when  the  present 
king  of  Spain  instituted  a  new  military  order  in  the  year  1771,  in 
commemoration  of  the  birth  of  his  grandson,  he  put  it  under  the 
immediate  protection  of  the  most  Holy  Mary  in  the  mystery  of  her 
immaculate  conception.  (Constituciones  de  la  real  y  distinguida 
Orden  Espanola  de  Carlos  III.,  p.  7.)  To  undertake  the  defence 
of  the  Virgin  Mary's  honor  had  such  a  resemblance  to  that 
species  of  refined  gallantly  which  was  the  original  object  of  chiv- 
alry, that  the  zeal  with  which  the  military  orders  bound  them- 
selves, by  a  solemn  vow,  to  defend  it,  was  worthy  of  a  true  knight 
in  those  ages  when  the  spirit  of  the  institution  subsisted  in  full 
vigor.  But  in  the  present  age  it  must  excite  some  surprise  to  see 
the  institution  of  an  illustrious  order  connected  with  a  doctrine  so 
extravagant  and  destitute  of  any  foundation  in  Scripture. 

NOTE  XXXVII.— Sect.  III.  p.  173. 

I  have  frequently  had  occasion  to  take  notice  of  the  defects  in 
police  during  the  Middle  Ages,  occasioned  by  the  feebleness  of 
government  and  the  want  of  proper  subordination  among  the  dif- 
ferent ranks  of  men.  I  have  observed  in  a  former  note  that  this 
greatly  interrupted  the  intercourse  between  nations,  and  even 
between  different  places  in  the  same  kingdom.  The  descriptions 
which  the  Spanish  historians  give  of  the  frequency  of  rapine, 
murder,  and  every  act  of  violence,  in  all  the  provinces  of  Spain, 


PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


335 


are  amazing,  and  present  to  us  the  idea  of  a  society  but  little 
removed  from  the  disorder  and  turbulence  of  that  which  has  been 
called  a  state  of  nature.  (Zurita,  Anales  de  Arag.,  i.  175;  ^El- 
Ant.  Nebrissensis,  Rer.  a  Ferdin.  Gestar.  Hist.,  ap.  Schottum,  ii. 
849.)  Though  the  excess  of  these  disorders  rendered  the  insti- 
tution of  the  santa  hermandad  necessary,  great  care  was  taken  at 
first  to  avoid  giving  any  offence  .or  alarm  to  the  nobility.  The 
jurisdiction  of  the  judges  of  the  hermandad  was  expressly  con- 
fined to  crimes  which  violated  the  public  peace.  All  other  offences 
were  left  to  the  cognizance  of  the  ordinary  judges.  If  a  person 
was  guilty  of  the  most  notorious  perjury,  in  any  trial  before  a 
judge  of  the  hermandad,  he  could  not  punish  him,  but  was 
obliged  to  remit  the  case  to  the  ordinary  judge  of  the  place. 
(Commentaria  in  Regias  Hispan.  Constitut.,  per  Alph.  de  Aze- 
vedo,  pars  v.  p.  223,  etc.,  fol.,  Duaci,  1612.)  Notwithstanding 
these  restrictions,  the  barons  were  early  sensible  how  much  the 
establishment  of  the  hermandad  would  encroach  on  their  jurisdic- 
tion. In  Castile  some  opposition  was  made  to  the  institution ; 
but  Ferdinand  had  the  address  to  obtain  the  consent  of  the  con- 
stable to  the  introduction  of  the  hermandad  into  that  part  of  the 
kingdom  where  his  estate  lay;  and  by  that  means,  as  well  as  the 
popularity  of  the  institution,  he  surmounted  every  obstacle  that 
stood  in  its  way.  (JE\.  Ant.  Nebrissen.,  851.)  In  Aragon  the 
nobles  combined  against  it  with  great  spirit ;  and  Ferdinand, 
though  he  supported  it  with  vigor,  was  obliged  to  make  some 
concessions  in  order  to  reconcile  them.  (Zurita,  Anales  de  Arag., 
iv.  356.)  The  power  and  revenue  of  the  hermandad  in  Castile 
seem  to  have  been  very  great.  Ferdinand,  when  preparing  for 
the  war  against  the  Moors  of  Granada,  required  of  the  hermandad 
to  furnish  him  sixteen  thousand  beasts  of  burden,  together  with 
eight  thousand  men  to  conduct  them,  and  he  obtained  what  he 
demanded.  (7E1.  Ant.  Nebriss.,  881.)  The  hermandad  has  been 
found  to  be  of  so  much  use  in  preserving  peace  and  restraining 
or  detecting  crimes  that  it  is  still  continued  in  Spain ;  but,  as  it  is 
no  longer  necessary  either  for  moderating  the  power  of  the  nobility 
or  extending  that  of  the  crown,  the  vigor  and  authority  of  the 
institution  diminish  gradually. 


336  PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

NOTE  XXXVIII.— Sect.  III.  p.  176. 

Nothing  is  more  common  among  antiquaries,  and  there  is  not 
a  more  copious  source  of  error,  than  to  decide  concerning  the  in- 
stitutions and  manners  of  past  ages  by  the  forms  and  ideas  which 
prevail  in  their  own  times.  The  French  lawyers  in  the  seven- 
teenth and  eighteenth  centuries,  having  found  their  sovereigns  in 
possession  of  absolute  power,  seem  to  think  it  a  duty  incumbent 
on  them  to  maintain  that  such  unbounded  authority  belonged  to 
the  crown  in  every  period  of  their  monarchy.  "  The  government 
of  France,"  says  M.  de  Real,  very  gravely,  "  is  purely  monarchical 
at  this  day,  as  it  was  from  the  beginning.  Our  kings  were  abso- 
lute originally,  as  they  are  at  present."  (Science  du  Gouverne- 
ment,  torn.  ii.  p.  31.)  It  is  impossible,  however,  to  conceive  two 
states  of  civil  society  more  unlike  to  each  other  than  that  of  the 
French  nation  under  Clovis  and  that  under  Louis  XV.  It  is  evi- 
dent from  the  codes  of  laws  of  the  various  tribes  which  settled  in 
Gaul  and  the  countries  adjacent  to  it,  as  well  as  from  the  history 
of  Gregory  of  Tours,  and  other  early  annalists,  that  among  all 
these  people  the  form  of  government  was  extremely  rude  and 
simple,  and  that  they  had  scarcely  begun  to  acquire  the  first  rudi- 
ments of  that  order  and  police  which  are  necessary  in  extensive 
societies.  The  king  or  leader  had  the  command  of  soldiers  or 
companions,  who  followed  his  standard  from  choice,  not  by  con- 
straint. I  have  produced  the  clearest  evidence  of  this,  Note  VI. 
An  event  related  by  Gregory  of  Tours,  lib.  iv.  c.  14,  affords  the 
most  striking  proof  of  the  dependence  of  the  early  French  kings 
on  the  sentiments  and  inclination  of  their  people.  Clotaire  I. 
having  marched  at  the  head  of  his  army,  in  the  year  553,  against 
the  Saxons,  that  people,  intimidated  at  his  approach,  sued  for 
peace,  and  offered  to  pay  a  large  sum  to  the  offended  monarch. 
Clotaire  was  willing  to  close  with  what  they  proposed.  But  his 
army  insisted  to  be  led  forth  to  battle.  The  king  employed  all 
his  eloquence  to  persuade  them  to  accept  of  what  the  Saxons  were 
ready  to  pay.  The  Saxons,  in  order  to  soothe  them,  increased 
their  original  offer.  The  king  renewed  his  solicitations;  but  the 
army,  enraged,  rushed  upon  the  king,  tore  his  tent  in  pieces, 


PROOFS  AND   ILLUSTRATIONS. 


337 


dragged  him  out  of  it,  and  would  have  slain  him  on  the  spot,  if 
he  had  not  consented  to  lead  them  instantly  against  the  enemy. 

If  the  early  monarchs  of  France  possessed  such  limited  authority, 
even  while  at  the  head  of  their  army,  their  prerogative  during 
peace  will  be  found  to  be  still  more  confined.  They  ascended  the 
throne  not  by  any  hereditary  right,  but  in  consequence  of  the 
election  of  their  subjects.  In  order  to  avoid  an  unnecessary  num- 
ber of  quotations,  I  refer  my  readers  to  Hottomanni  Franco-Gallia, 
cap.  vi.  p.  47,  edit.  1573,  where  they  will  find  the  fullest  proof  of 
this  from  Gregory  of  Tours,  Amoinus,  and  the  most  authentic  his- 
torians of  the  Merovingian  kings.  The  effect  of  this  election  was 
not  to  invest  them  with  absolute  power.  Whatever  related  to  the 
general  welfare  of  the  nation  was  submitted  to  public  deliberation, 
and  determined  by  the  suffrage  of  the  people,  in  the  annual  assem- 
blies called  "  les  champs  de  Mars"  and  "  les  champs  de  Mai." 
These  assemblies  were  called  champs,  because,  according  to  the 
custom  of  all  the  barbarous  nations,  they  were  held  in  the  open 
air,  in  some  plain  capable  of  containing  the  vast  number  of  per- 
sons who  had  a  right  to  be  present.  (Jo.  Jac.  Sorberus  de  Comitiis 
Veterum  Germanorum,  vol.  i.  \  19,  etc.)  They  were  denominated 
Champs  de  Mars  and  de  Mai,  from  the  months  in  which  they  were 
held.  Every  freeman  seems  to  have  had  a  right  to  be  present  in 
these  assemblies.  (Sorberus,  ibid.,  \  133,  etc.)  The  ancient  annals 
of  the  Franks  describe  the  persons  svho  were  present  in  the  as- 
sembly held  A.D.  788,  in  these  words  :  "  In  placito  Ingelheimensi 
conveniunt  pontifices,  majores,  minores,  sacerdotes,  reguli,  duces, 
comites,  prsefecti,  cives,  oppidani."  (Apud  Sorber.,  \  304.) 
There  every  thing  that  concerned  the  happiness  of  their  country, 
says  an  ancient  historian,  every  thing  that  could  be  of  benefit  to 
the  Franks,  was  considered  and  enjoined.  (Fredegarius,  ap.  Du 
Cange,  Glossar.,  voc.  Campus  Martii.)  Chlotharius  II.  describes 
the  business  and  acknowledges  the  authority  of  these  assemblies. 
"  They  are  called,"  says  he,  "  that  whatever  relates  to  the  common 
safety  may  be  considered  and  resolved  by  common  deliberation  ; 
and  whatever  they  determine,  to  that  I  will  conform."  (Amoinus 
de  Gest.  Franc.,  lib.  iv.  c.  i.,  ap.  Bouquet,  Recueil,  iii.  116.)  The 
statutory  clauses  or  words  of  legislative  authority  in  the  decrees 
Charles. — VOL.  I.— p  29 


338  PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

issued  in  these  assemblies  run  not  in  the  name  of  the  king  alone. 
"  We  have  treated,"  says  Childebert,  in  a  decree,  A.D.  532,  in  the 
assembly  of  March,  "  together  with  our  nobles,  concerning  some 
affairs,  and  we  now  publish  the  conclusion,  that  it  may  come  to  the 
knowledge  of  all."  (Childeb.  Decret.,  ap.  Bouquet,  Recueil  des 
Histor.,tom.  iv.  p.  3.)  "  We  have  agreed  together  with  our  vas- 
sals." (Ibid.,  §  2.)  "  It  is  agreed  in  the  assembly  in  which  we 
are  all  united."  (Ibid.,  §  4.)  The  Salic  laws,  the  most  venerable 
monument  of  French  jurisprudence,  were  enacted  in  the  same 
manner.  "  Dictaverunt  Salicam  legem  proceres  ipsius  gentis,  qtii 
tune  temporis  apud  earn  erant  rectores.  Sunt  autem  electi  de 
pluribus  viri  quatuor — qui  per  tres  Mallos  convenientes,  omnes 
causarum  origines  solicite  discurrendo,  tractantes  de  singulis, 
judicium  decreverunt  hoc  modo."  (Prsef.  Leg.  Salic.,  ap.  Bou- 
quet., ibid.,  p.  122.)  "  Hoc  decretum  est  apud  regem  et  principes 
ejus,  et  apud  cunctum  populum  christianum,  qui  intra  regnum  Mer- 
wingorum  consistunt."  (Ibid.,  p.  124.)  Nay,  even  in  their  charters 
the  kings  of  the  first  race  are  careful  to  specify  that  they  were 
granted  with  the  consent  of  their  vassals.  "  Ego  Childebertus, 
rex,  una  cum  consensu  et  voluntate  Francorum,"  etc.,  A.D.  558. 
(Bouquet,  ibid.,  622.)  "  Chlotharius  III.  una  cum  patribus  nos- 
tris,  episcopis,  optimatibus,  caeterisque  palatii  nostri  ministris,"  A.D. 
664.  (Ibid.,  648.)  "  De  consensu  fidelium  nostrorum."  (Mably, 
Observ.,  torn.  i.  p.  239.)  The  historians  likewise  describe  the 
functions  of  the  king  in  the  national  assemblies  in  such  terms  as 
imply  that  his  authority  there  was  extremely  small,  and  that  every 
thing  depended  on  the  court  itself.  "  Ipse  rex,"  says  the  author 
of  Annales  Francorum,  speaking  of  the  Field  of  March,  "  sede- 
bat  in  sella  regia,  circumstante  exercitu,  prsecipiebatque  is,  die 
illo,  quicquid  a  Francis  decretum  erat."  Bouquet,  Recueil,  torn, 
ii.  p.  647. 

That  the  general  assemblies  exercised  supreme  jurisdiction  over 
all  persons  and  with  respect  to  all  causes  is  so  evident  as  to  stand 
in  need  of  no  proof.  The  trial  of  Brunehaut,  A.D.  613,  how  un- 
just soever  the  sentence  against  her  may  be,  as  related  by  Frede- 
garius  (Chron.,  cap.  42,  Bouquet,  ibid.,  430),  is  in  itself  sufficient 
proof  of  this.  The  notorious  violence  and  iniquity  of  the  sen- 


PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


339 


tence  serve  to  demonstrate  the  extent  of  jurisdiction  which  this 
assembly  possessed,  as  a  prince  so  sanguinary  as  Clothaire  II. 
thought  the  sanction  of  its  authority  would  be  sufficient  to  justify 
his  rigorous  treatment  of  the  mother  and  grandmother  of  so  many 
kings. 

With  respect  to  conferring  donatives  on  the  prince,  we  may 
observe  that  among  nations  whose  manners  and  political  institu- 
tions are  simple,  the  public,  as  well  as  individuals,  having  few 
wants,  they  are  little  acquainted  with  taxes,  and  free  uncivilized 
tribes  disdain  to  submit  to  any  stated  imposition.  This  was 
remarkably  the  case  of  the  Germans,  and  of  all  the  various  people 
that  issued  from  that  country.  Tacitus  pronounces  two  tribes  not 
to  be  of  German  origin,  because  they  submitted  to  pay  taxes. 
(De  Morib.  Germ.,  c.  43.)  And,  speaking  of  another  tribe  ac- 
cording to  the  ideas  prevalent  in  Germany,  he  says,  "  They  were 
not  degraded  by  the  imposition  of  taxes."  (Ibid.,  c.  29.)  Upon  the 
settlement  of  the  Franks  in  Gaul  we  may  conclude  that,  while 
elated  with  the  consciousness  of  victory,  they  would  not  renounce 
the  high-spirited  ideas  of  their  ancestors  or  voluntarily  submit  to 
a  burden  which  they  regarded  as  a  badge  of  servitude.  The  evi- 
dence of  the  earliest  records  and  historians  justifies  this  conclusion. 
M.  de  Montesquieu,  in  the  twelfth  and  subsequent  chapters  of  the 
thirteenth  book  of  L'Esprit  des  Loix,  and  M.  de  Mably,  Observa- 
tions sur  1'Histoire  de  France,  torn.  i.  p.  247,  have  investigated  this 
fact  with  great  attention,  and  have  proved  clearly  that  the  property 
of  freemen  among  the  Franks  was  not  subject  to  any  stated  tax ; 
that  the  state  required  nothing  from  persons  of  this  rank  but  mili- 
tary service  at  their  own  expense  and  that  they  should  entertain 
the  king  in  their  houses  when  he  was  upon  any  progress  through 
his  dominions,  or  his  officers  when  sent  on  any  public  employ- 
ment, furnishing  them  with  carriages  and  horses.  Monarchs 
subsisted  almost  entirely  upon  the  revenues  of  their  own  domains, 
and  upon  the  perquisites  arising  from  the  administration  of  justice, 
together  with  a  few  small  fines  and  forfeitures  exacted  from  such 
as  had  been  guilty  of  certain  trespasses.  It  is  foreign  from  my 
subject  to  enumerate  these.  The  reader  may  find  them  in  Observa- 
tions de  M.  de  Mably,  vol.  i.  p.  267. 


340 


PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


When  any  extraordinary  aid  was  granted  by  freemen  to  their 
sovereign  it  was  purely  voluntary.  In  the  annual  assembly  of 
March  or  May  it  was  the  custom  to  make  the  king  a  present  of 
money,  of  horses  or  arms,  or  of  some  other  thing  of  value.  This 
was  an  ancient  custom,  and  derived  from  their  ancestors  the 
Germans.  "  Mos  est  civitatibus,  ultro  ac  viritim  conferre  principi- 
bus,  vel  armentorum,  vel  frugum,  quod  pro  honore  acceptum,  etiam 
necessitatibus  subvenit."  (Tacit.,  de  Mor.  Germ.,  c.  15.)  These 
gifts,  if  we  may  form  a  judgment  concerning  them  from  the  general 
terms  in  which  they  are  mentioned  by  the  ancient  historians,  were 
considerable,  and  made  no  small  part  of  the  royal  revenue.  Many 
passages  to  this  purpose  are  produced  by  M.  Du  Cange,  Dissert. 
IV.  sur  Joinville,  p.  153.  Sometimes  a  conquered  people  specified 
the  gift  which  they  bound  themselves  to  pay  annually,  and  it  was 
exacted  as  a  debt  if  they  failed.  (Anales  Metenses,  ap.  Du  Cange, 
ibid.,  p.  155.)  It  is  probable  that  the  first  step  towards  taxation 
was  to  ascertain  the  value  of  these  gifts,  which  were  originally 
gratuitous,  and  to  compel  the  people  to  pay  the  sum  at  which 
they  were  rated.  Still,  however,  some  memory  of  their  original 
was  preserved,  and  the  aids  granted  to  monarchs  in  all  the  king- 
doms of  Europe  were  termed  benevolences  or  free  gifts. 

The  kings  of  the  second  race  in  France  were  raised  to  the 
throne  by  the  election  of  the  people.  "  Pepinus  rex  pius,"  says 
an  author  who  wrote  a  few  years  after  the  transaction  which  he 
records,  "per  authorilatem  papse,  et  unctionem  sancti  chrismatis 
et  electionem  omnium  Francorum  in  regni  solio  sublimatus  est." 
(Clausula  de  Pepini  Consecratione,  ap.  Bouq.,  Recueil  des  Histor., 
torn.  v.  p.  9.)  At  the  same  time,  as  the  chief  men  of  the  nation 
had  transferred  the  crown  from  one  family  to  another,  an  oath 
was  exacted  of  them  that  they  should  maintain  on  the  throne  the 
family  which  they  had  now  promoted  :  "  ut  nunquam  de  alterius 
lumbis  regem  in  sevo  prsesumant  eligere."  (Ibid.,  p.  10.)  This 
oath  the  nation  faithfully  observed  during  a  considerable  space  of 
time.  The  posterity  of  Pepin  kept  possession  of  the  throne;  but 
with  respect  to  the  manner  of  dividing  their  dominions  among 
their  children,  princes  were  obliged  to  consult  the  general  assem- 
bly of  the  nation.  Thus,  Pepin  himself,  A.D.  768,  appointed  his 


PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS.  341 

two  sons,  Charles  and  Carlomannus,  to  reign  as  joint  sovereigns ; 
but  he  did  this  "  una  cum  consensu  Francorum  et  procerum  suorum 
seu  et  episcoporum,"  before  whom  he  laid  the  matter  in  their 
general  assembly.  (Conventus  apud  Sanctum  Dionysium,  Capitu- 
lar., vol.  i.  p.  187.)  This  destination  the  French  confirmed  in  a 
subsequent  assembly,  which  was  called  upon  the  death  of  Pepin ; 
for,  as  Eginhart  relates,  they  not  only  appointed  them  kings,  but 
by  their  authority  they  regulated  the  limits  of  their  respective 
territories.  (Vita  Car.  Magni,  ap.  Bouquet,  Recueil,  torn.  v.  p.  90.) 
In  the  same  manner,  it  was  by  the  authority  of  the  supreme  assem- 
blies that  any  dispute  which  arose  among  the  descendants  of  the 
royal  family  was  determined.  Charlemagne  recognizes  this  im- 
portant part  of  their  jurisdiction,  and  confirms  it,  in  his  charter 
concerning  the  partition  of  his  dominions;  for  he  appoints  that, 
in  case  of  any  uncertainty  with  respect  to  the  right  of  the  several 
competitors,  he  whom  the  people  choose  shall  succeed  to  the 
crown.  Capitular.,  vol.  i.  p.  442. 

Under  the  second  race  of  kings,  the  assemblies  of  the  nation, 
distinguished  by  the  name  of  conventus,  malli,  placita,  were  regu- 
larly assembled  once  a  year  at  least,  and  frequently  twice  in  the 
year.  One  of  the  most  valuable  monuments  of  the  history  of 
France  is  the  treatise  of  Hincmarus,  archbishop  of  Rheims,  De 
Ordine  Palatii.  He  died  A.D.  882,  only  sixty-eight  years  after 
Charlemagne,  and  he  relates  in  that  short  discourse  the  facts 
which  were  communicated  to  him  by  Adalhardus,  a  minister  and 
confidant  of  Charlemagne.  From  him  we  learn  that  this  great 
monarch  never  failed  to  hold  the  general  assembly  of  his  subjects 
every  year.  "  In  quo  placito  generalitas  universorum  majorum 
tarn  clericorum  quam  laicorum  conveniebat."  (Hincm.,  Open, 
edit.  Sirmondi,  vol.  ii.  c.  29,  p.  211.)  In  these  assemblies  matters 
which  related  to  the  general  safety  and  state  of  the  kingdom  were 
always  discussed  before  they  entered  upon  any  private  or  less 
important  business.  (Ibid.,  c.  33,  p.  213.)  His  immediate  suc- 
cessors imitated  his  example,  and  transacted  no  affair  of  importance 
without  the  advice  of  their  great  council. 

Under  the  second  race  of  kings  the  genius  of  the  French  gov- 
ernment continued  to  be  in  a  good  measure  democratical.  The 
29* 


342  PROOFS  AND   ILLUSTRATIONS. 

nobles,  the,  dignified  ecclesiastics,  and  the  great  officers  of  the 
crown  were  not  the  only  members  of  the  national  council ;  the 
people,  or  the  whole  body  of  freemen,  either  in  person  or  by  their 
representatives,  had  a  right  to  be  present  in  it.  Hincmarus,  in 
describing  the  manner  of  holding  the  general  assemblies,  says 
that  if  the  weather  was  favorable  they  met  in  the  open  air ;  but  if 
otherwise,  they  had  different  apartments  allotted  to  them ;  so  that 
the  dignified  clergy  were  separated  from  the  laity,  and  the  "  comites 
vel  hujusmodi  principes  sibimet  honorificabiliter  a  csetera  multitu- 
dine  segregarentur."  (Ibid.,  c.  35,  p.  114.)  Agobardus,  archbishop 
of  Lypns,  thus  describes  a  national  council  in  the  year  833,  wherein 
he  was  present:  "  Qui  ubique  conventus  extitit  ex  reverendissimis 
episcopis,  et  magnificentissimis  viris  illustribus,  collegio  quoque 
abbatum  et  comitum,  promiscuseque  cetatis  et  dignitatis  populo." 
The  cectera  multitude  of  Hincmarus  is  the  same  with  the  populus 
of  Agobardus,  and  both  describe  the  inferior  order  of  freemen, 
the  same  who  were  afterwards  known  in  France  by  the  name  of 
the  third  estate,  and  in  England  by  the  name  of  commons.  The 
people,  as  well  as  the  members  of  higher  dignity,  were  admitted 
to  a  share  of  the  legislative  power.  Thus,  by  a  law,  A.D.  803,  it 
is  ordained  "  That  the  question  shall  be  put  to  the  people  with 
respect  to  every  new  law,  and  if  they  shall  agree  to  it  they  shall 
confirm  it  by  their  signature."  (Capit.,  vol.  i.  p.  394.)  There  are 
two  capitularia  which  convey  to  us  a  full  idea  of  the  part  which 
the  people  took  in  the  administration  of  government.  When  they 
felt  the  weight  of  any  grievance,  they  had  a  right  to  petition  the 
sovereign  for  redress.  One  of  these  petitions,  in  which  they  desire 
that  ecclesiastics  might  be  exempted  from  bearing  arms  and  from 
serving  in  person  against  the  enemy,  is  still  extant.  It  is  addressed 
to  Charlemagne,  A.D.  803,  and  expressed  in  such  terms  as  could 
have  been  used  only  by  men  conscious  of  liberty  and  of  the  exten- 
sive privileges  which  they  possessed.  They  conclude  with  requiring 
him  to  grant  their  demand  if  he  wished  that  they  should  any  longer 
continue  faithful  subjects  to  him.  That  great  monarch,  instead 
of  being  offended  or  surprised  at  the  boldness  of  their  petition, 
received  it  in  a  most  gracious  manner,  and  signified  his  willing- 
ness to  comply  with  it.  But,  sensible  that  he  himself  did  not 


PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS.  343 

possess  legislative  authority,  he  promises  to  lay  the  matter  before 
the  next  general  assembly,  that  such  things  as  were  of  common 
concern  to  all  might  be  there  considered  and  established  by  com- 
mon consent.  (Capitul.,  torn.  i.  pp.  405-409.)  As  the  people 
by  their  petitions  brought  matters  to  be  proposed  in  the  general 
assembly,  we  learn  from  another  capitulare  the  form  in  which 
they  were  approved  there  and  enacted  as  laws.  The  propositions 
were  read  aloud,  and  then  the  people  were  required  to  declare 
whether  they  assented  to  them  or  not.  They  signified  their 
assent  by  crying  three  times,  "  We  are  satisfied ;"  and  then  the 
capitulare  was  confirmed  by  the  subscription  of  the  monarch, 
the  clergy,  and  the  chief  men  of  the  laity.  (Capitul.,  torn.  i.  p. 
627,  A.D.  822.)  It  seems  probable  from  a  capitulare  of  Carolus 
Calvus,  A.D.  851,  that  the  sovereign  could  not  refuse  his  assent  to 
what  was  proposed  and  established  by  his  subjects  in  the  general 
assembly.  (Tit.  ix.  §6;  Capitul.,  vol.  ii.  p.  47.)  It  is  unnecessary 
to  multiply  quotations  concerning  the  legislative  power  of  the 
national  assembly  of  France  under  the  second  race,  or  concerning 
its  right  to  determine  with  regard  to  peace  and  war.  The  uniform 
style  of  the  Capitularia  is  an  abundant  confirmation  of  the  former. 
The  reader  who  desires  any  further  information  with  respect  to  the 
latter  may  consult  Les  Origines  ou  1'ancien  Gouvernement  de  la 
France,  etc.,  torn.  iii.  p.  87,  etc.  What  has  been  said  with  respect 
to  the  admission  of  the  people  or  their  representatives  into  the 
supreme  assembly  merits  attention,  not  only  in  tracing  the  progress 
of  the  French  government,  but  on  account  of  the  light  which  it 
throws  upon  a  similar  question  agitated  in  England  concerning  the 
time  when  the  commons  became  part  of  the  legislative  body  in 
that  kingdom. 

NOTE  XXXIX.— Sect.  III.  p.  178. 

That  important  change  which  the  constitution  of  France  under- 
went when  the  legislative  power  was  transferred  from  the  great 
council  of  the  nation  to  the  king  has  been  explained  by  the  French 
antiquaries  with  less  care  than  they  bestow  in  illustrating  other 
events  in  their  history.  For  that  reason  I  have  endeavored  with 
greater  attention  to  trace  the  steps  which  led  to  this  memorable 


344 


PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


revolution.  I  shall  here  add  some  particulars  which  tend  to  throw 
additional  light  upon  it.  The  Leges  Salicas,  the  Leges  Burgun- 
dionum,  and  other  codes  published  by  the  several  tribes  which 
settled  in  Gaul  were  general  laws  extending  to  every  person,  to 
every  province  and  district  where  the  authority  of  those  tribes  was 
acknowledged.  But  they  seem  to  have  become  obsolete ;  and  the 
reason  of  their  falling  into  disuse  is  very  obvious.  Almost  the 
whole  property  of  the  nation  was  allodial  when  these  laws  were 
framed.  But  when  the  feudal  institutions  became  general,  and 
gave  rise  to  an  infinite  variety  of  questions  peculiar  to  that  species 
of  tenure,  the  ancient  codes  were  of  no  use  in  deciding  with  re- 
gard to  th^ese,  because  they  could  not  contain  regulations  applica- 
ble to  cases  which  did  not  exist  at  the  time  when  they  were  com- 
piled. This  considerable  change  in  the  nature  of  property  made 
it  necessary  to  publish  the  new  regulations  contained  in  the  capi- 
tularia.  Many  of  these,  as  is  evident  from  the  perusal  of  them, 
were  public  laws  extending  to  the  whole  French  nation,  in  the 
general  assembly  of  which  they  were  enacted.  The  weakness  of 
the  greater  part  of  the  monarchs  of  the  second  race,  and  the  dis- 
order into  which  the  nation  was  thrown  by  the  depredations  of 
the  Normans,  encouraged  the  barons  to  usurp  an  independent 
power  formerly  unknown  in  France.  The  nature  and  extent 
of  that  jurisdiction  which  they  assumed  I  have  formerly  con- 
sidered. The  political  union  of  the  kingdom  was  at  an  end,  its 
ancient  constitution  was  dissolved,  and  only  a  feudal  relation  sub- 
sisted between  the  king  and  his  vassals.  The  regal  jurisdiction 
extended  no  further  than  the  domains  of  the  crown.  Under  the 
last  kings  of  the  second  race  these  were  reduced  almost  to  nothing. 
Under  the  first  kings  of  the  third  race  they  comprehended  little 
more  than  the  patrimonial  estate  of  Hugh  Capet,  which  he  an- 
nexed to  the  crown.  Even  with  this  a<  cession  they  continued 
to  be  of  small  extent.  (Velly,  Hist,  de  France,  torn.  iii.  p.  32.) 
Many  of  the  most  considerable  provinces  in  France  did  not  at  first 
acknowledge  Hugh  Capet  as  a  lawful  monarch.  There  are  still 
extant  several  charters,  granted  during  the  first  years  of  his  reign, 
with  this  remarkable  clause  in  the  form  of  dating  the  charter: 
"  Deo  regnante,  rege  expectante,  regnante  Domino  nostro  Jesu 


PXOOPS  AND   ILLUSTRATIONS. 


345 


Christo  Francis  autem  contra  jus  regmim  usurpante  Ugone  rege." 
(Bouquet,  Recueil,  torn.  x.  p.  544.)  A  monarch  whose  title  was 
thus  openly  disputed  was  not  in  a  condition  to  assert  the  royal 
jurisdiction  or  to  limit  that  of  the  barons. 

All  these  circumstances  rendered  it  easy  for  the  barons  to  usurp 
the  rights  of  royalty  within  their  own  territories.  The  Capitularia 
became  no  less  obsolete  than  the  ancient  laws ;  local  customs  were 
everywhere  introduced,  and  became  the  sole  rule  by  which  all 
civil  transactions  were  conducted  and  all  causes  were  tried.  The 
wonderful  ignorance  which  became  general  in  France  during  the 
ninth  and  tenth  centuries  contributed  to  the  introduction  of  cus- 
tomary law.  Few  persons,  except  ecclesiastics,  could  read  ;  and 
as  it  was  not  in  the  power  of  such  illiterate  persons  to  have  re- 
course to  written  laws,  either  as  their  guide  in  business  or  their 
rule  in  administering  justice,  the  customary  law,  the  knowledge 
of  which  was  preserved  by  tradition,  universally  prevailed. 

During  this  period  the  general  assembly  of  the  nation  seems 
not  to  have  been  called,  nor  to  have  once  exerted  its  legislative 
authority.  Local  customs  regulated  and  decided  every  thing.  A 
striking  proof  of  this  occurs  in  tracing  the  progress  of  the  French 
jurisprudence.  The  last  of  the  Capitularia  collected  by  M.  Baluze 
was  issued  in  the  year  921,  by  Charles  the  Simple.  A  hundred 
and  thirty  years  elapsed  from  that  period  to  the  publication  of  the 
first  ordinance  of  the  kings  of  the  third  race,  contained  in  the 
great  collection  of  M.  Lauriere,  and  the  first  ordinance  which 
appears  to  be  an  act  of  legislation  extending  to  the  whole  king- 
dom is  that  of  Philip  Augustus,  A.D.  1190.  (Ordon.,  torn.  i.  pp. 
I,  18.)  During  that  long  period  of  two  hundred  and  sixty-nine 
years  all  transactions  were  directed  by  local  customs,  and  no  ad- 
dition was  made  to  the  statutory  law  of  France.  The  ordinances 
previous  to  the  reign  of  Philip  Augustus  contain  regulations  the 
authority  of  which  did  not  extend  beyond  the  king's  domains. 

Various  instances  occur  of  the  caution  with  which  the  kings  of 
France  ventured  at  first  to  exercise  legislative  authority.  M. 
1'Abbe  de  Mably  produces  an  ordinance  of  Philip  Augustus,  A.D. 
1206,  concerning  the  Jews,  who  in  that  age  were  in  some  measure 
the  property  of  the  lord  in  whose  territories  they  resided.  But  it 
p* 


346  PROOFS  AND   ILLUSTRATIONS. 

is  rather  a  treaty  of  the  king  with  the  countess  of  Champagne  and 
the  Compte  de  Dampierre,  than  an  act  of  royal  power;  and  the 
regulations  in  it  seem  to  be  established  not  so  much  by  his  authority 
as  by  their  consent.  (Observat.  sur  1'Hist.  de  France,  ii.  p.  355.) 
In  the  same  manner  an  ordinance  of  Louis  VIII.  concerning  the 
Jews,  A.D.  1223,  is  a  contract  between  the  king  and  his  nobles 
with  respect  to  their  manner  of  treating  that  unhappy  race  of  men. 
(Ordon.,  torn.  i.  p.  47.)  The  Establissemens  of  St.  Louis,  though 
well  adapted  to  serve  as  general  laws  to  the  whole  kingdom,  were 
not  published  as  such,  but  only  as  a  complete  code  of  customary 
law,  to  be  of  authority  within  the  king's  domains.  The  wisdom, 
the  equityv-and  the  order  conspicuous  in  that  code  of  St.  Louis 
procured  it  a  favorable  reception  throughout  the  kingdom.  The 
veneration  due  to  the  virtues  and  good  intentions  of  its  author 
contributed  not  a  little  to  reconcile  the  nation  to  that  legislative 
authority  which  the  king  began  to  assume.  Soon  after  the  reign 
of  St.  Louis,  the  idea  of  the  king's  possessing  supreme  legislative 
power  became  common.  "  If,"  says  Beaumanoir,  "  the  king  makes 
any  establishment  specially  for  his  own  domain,  the  barons  may 
nevertheless  adhere  to  their  ancient  customs ;  but  if  the  establish- 
ment be  general  it  shall  be  current  throughout  the  whole  king- 
dom, and  we  ought  to  believe  that  such  establishments  are  made 
with  mature  deliberation,  and  for  the  general  good."  (Const,  de 
Beauvoisis,  c.  48,  p.  265.)  Though  the  kings  of  the  third  race 
did  not  call  the  general  assembly  of  the  nation  during  the  long 
period  from  Hugh  Capet  to  Philip  the  Fair,  yet  they  seem  to  have 
consulted  the  bishops  and  barons  who  happened  to  be  present  in 
their  court,  with  respect  to  any  new  law  which  they  published. 
Examples  of  this  occur,  Ordon.,  torn.  i.  p.  3  et  5.  This  practice 
seems  to  have  continued  as  late  as  the  reign  of  St.  Louis,  when  the 
legislative  authority  of  the  crown  was  well  established.  (Ordon., 
torn.  i.  p.  58,  A.D.  1246.)  This  attention  paid  to  the  barons  facili- 
tated the.  kings'  acquiring  such  full  possession  of  the  legislative 
power  as  enabled  them  afterwards  to  exercise  it  without  observing 
that  formality. 

The  assemblies  distinguished  by  the  name  of  the  states-general 
were  first  called  A.D.  1302,  and  were  held  occasionally  from  that 


*  PR  OOFS  AND   ILLUSTRATIONS. 


347 


period  to  the  year  1614,  since  which  time  they  have  not  been  sum- 
moned. These  were  very  different  from  the  ancient  assemblies 
of  the  French  nation  under  the  kings  of  the  first  and  second  race. 
There  is  no  point  with  respect  to  which  the  French  antiquaries 
are  more  generally  agreed  than  in  maintaining  that  the  states- 
general  had  no  suffrage  in  the  passing  of  laws  and  possessed  no 
proper  legislative  jurisdiction.  The  whole  tenor  of  the  French 
history  confirms  this  opinion.  The  form  of  proceeding  in  the 
states-general  was  this.  The  king  addressed  himself,  at  opening 
the  meeting,  to  the  whole  body  assembled  in  one  place,  and  laid 
before  them  the  affairs  on  account  of  which  he  had  summoned 
them.  Then  the  deputies  of  each  of  the  three  orders,  of  nobles, 
of  clergy,  and  of  the  third  estate,  met  apart,  and  prepared  their 
cahier,  or  memorial,  containing  their  answer  to  the  propositions 
which  had  been  made  to  them,  together  with  the  representations 
which  they  thought  proper  to  lay  before  the  king.  These  answers 
and  representations  were  considered  by  the  king  in  his  council, 
and  generally  gave  rise  to  an  ordinance.  These  ordinances  were 
not  addressed  to  the  three  estates  in  common.  Sometimes  the 
king  addressed  an  ordinance  to  each  of  the  estates  in  particular. 
Sometimes  he  mentioned  the  assembly  of  the  three  estates.  Some- 
times mention  is  made  only  of  the  assembly  of  that  estate  to  which 
the  ordinance  is  addressed.  Sometimes  no  mention  at  all  is  made 
of  the  assembly  of  estates,  which  suggested  the  propriety  of  en- 
acting the  law.  Preface  au  torn.  iii.  des  Ordon.,  p.  xx. 

Thus  the  states-general  had  only  the  privilege  of  advising  and 
remonstrating;  the  legislative  authority  resided  in  the  king  alone. 

NOTE  XL.— Sect.  III.  p.  182. 

If  the  parliament  of  Paris  be  considered  only  as  the  supreme 
court  of  justice,  every  thing  relative  to  its  origin  and  jurisdiction 
is  clear  and  obvious.  It  is  the  ancient  court  of  the  king's  palace, 
new-modelled,  rendered  stationary,  and  invested  with  an  extensive 
and  ascertained  jurisdiction.  The  power  of  this  court  while  em- 
ployed in  this  part  of  its  functions  is  not  the  object  of  present 
consideration.  The  pretensions  of  the  parliament  to  control  the 


348  PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS.' 

exercise  of  the  legislative  authority,  and  its  claim  of  a  right  to 
interpose  with  respect  to  public  affairs  and  the  political  adminis- 
tration of  the  kingdom,  lead  to  inquiries  attended  with  great 
difficulty.  As  the  officers  and  members  of  the  parliament  of  Paris 
were  anciently  nominated  by  the  king,  were  paid  by  him,  and  on 
several  occasions  were  removed  by  him  at  pleasure  (Chronic, 
scandaleuse  de  Louis  XI.  chez  !es  Mem.  de  Comines,  torn.  ii.  p. 
51,  edit,  de  M.  Lenglet  de  Fresnoy),  they  cannot  be  considered 
as  representatives  of  the  people,  nor  could  they  claim  any  share 
in  the  legislative  power  as  acting  in  their  name.  We  must  there- 
fore search  for  some  other  source  of  this  high  privilege.  I.  The 
parliament  was  originally  composed  of  the  most  eminent  persons 
in  the  kingdom.  The  peers  of  France,  ecclesiastics  of  the  highest 
order,  and  noblemen  of  illustrious  birth,  were  members  of  it,  to 
whom  were  added  some  clerks  and  councillors  learned  in  the 
laws.  (Pasquier,  Recherches,  p.  44,  etc.,  Encyclopedic,  torn,  xii., 
art.  Parlement,  pp.  3,  5.)  A  court  thus  constituted  was  properly 
a  committee  of  the  states-general  of  the  kingdom,  and  was  com- 
posed of  those  barons  and  f deles  whom  the  kings  of  France  were 
accustomed  to  consult  with  regard  to  every  act  of  jurisdiction  or 
legislative  authority.  It  was  natural,  therefore,  during  the  inter- 
vals between  the  meetings  of  the  states-general,  or  during  those 
periods  when  that  assembly  was  not  called,  to  consult  the  parlia- 
ment, to  lay  matters  of  public  concern  before  it,  and  to  obtain  its 
approbation  and  concurrence,  before  any  ordinance  was  published, 
to  which  the  people  were  required  to  conform.  2.  Under  the 
second  race  of  kings,  every  new  law  was  reduced  into  proper 
form  by  the  chancellor  of  the  kingdom,  was  proposed  by  him  to 
the  people,  and,  when  enacted,  was  committed  to  him  to  be  kept 
among  the  public  records,  that  he  might  give  authentic  copies  of 
it  to  all  who  should  demand  them.  (Hincm.,  de  Ord.  Palat.,  c. 
16;  Capitul.  Car.  Calv.,  tit.  xiv.  \  \\,  tit.  xxxiii.)  The  chancellor 
presided  in  the  parliament  of  Paris  at  its  first  institution.  (Ency- 
clopedic, torn,  iii.,  art.  Chancelier,  p.  88.)  It  was,  therefore,  natu- 
ral for  the  king  to  continue  to  employ  him  in  his  ancient  functions 
of  framing,  taking  into  his  custody,  and  publishing  the  ordinances 
which  were  issued.  To  an  ancient  copy  of  the  Capitularia  of 


PROOFS  AND   ILLUSTRATIONS.  349 

Charlemagne  the  following  words  are  subjoined :  "  Anno  tertio 
clementissimi  domini  nostri  Caroli  August!,  sub  ipso  anno,  hsec 
facta  Capitula  sunt,  et  consignata  Stephano  comiti,  ut  haec  mani- 
festa  faceret  Parisiis  mallo  publico,  et  ilia  legere  faceret  coram 
scabineis,  quod  ita  et  fecit,  et  omnes  in  uno  consenserunt,  quod 
ipsi  voluissent  observare  usque  in  posterum,  etiam  omnes  scabinei, 
episcopi,  abbates,  comites,  manu  propria  subter  signaverunt." 
(Bouquet,  Recueil,  torn.  v.  p.  663.)  Mallus  signifies  not  only  the 
public  assembly  of  the  nation,  but  the  court  of  justice  held  by  the 
comes,  or  missus  dominicus.  Scabinei  were  the  judges,  or  the 
assessors  of  the  judges,  in  that  court.  Here,  then,  seems  to  be  .1 
very  early  instance  not  -only  of  laws  being  published  in  a  court  of 
justice,  but  of  their  being  verified  or  confirmed  by  the  subscription 
of  the  judges.  If  this  was  the  common  practice,  it  naturally  in- 
troduced the  verifying  of  edicts  in  the  parliament  of  Paris.  But 
this  conjecture  I  propose  with  that  diffidence  which  I  have  felt  in 
all  my  reasonings  concerning  the  laws  and  institutions  of  foreign 
nations.  3.  This  supreme  court  of  justice  in  France  was  dignified 
with  the  appellation  of  parliament,  the  name  by  which  the  general 
assembly  of  the  nation  was  distinguished  towards  the  close  of  the 
second  race  of  kings ;  and  men,  both  in  reasoning  and  in  con- 
duct, were  wonderfully  influenced  by  the  similarity  of  names.  The 
preserving  the  ancient  names  of  the  magistrates  established  while 
the  republican  government  subsisted  in  Rome  enabled  Augustus 
and  his  successors  to  assume  new  powers  with  less  observation 
and  greater  ease.  The  bestowing  the  same  name  in  France  upon 
two  courts  which  were  extremely  different  contributed  not  a  little 
to  confound  their  jurisdictions  and  functions. 

All  these  circumstances  concurred  in  leading  the  kings  of 
France  to  avail  themselves  of  the  parliament  of  Paris  as  the 
instrument  of  reconciling  the  people  to  the  exercise  of  legislative 
authority  by  the  crown.  The  French,  accustomed  to  see  all  new 
laws  examined  and  authorized  before  they  were  published,  did 
not  sufficiently  distinguish  between  the  effect  of  performing  this 
in  the  national  assembly  or  in  a  court  appointed  by  the  king. 
But  as  that  court  was  composed  of  respectable  members,  and  who 
were  well  skilled  in  the  laws  of  their  country,  when  any  new 
Charles. — VOL.  I.  30 


350  PROOFS  AND    ILLUSTRATIONS. 

edict  received  its  sanction,  that  was  sufficient  to  dispose  the  people 
to  submit  to  it. 

When  the  practice  of  verifying  and  registering  the  royal  edicts 
in  the  parliament  of  Paris  became  common,  the  parliament  con- 
tended that  this  was  necessary  in  order  to  give  them  legal  author- 
ity. It  was  established  as  a  fundamental  maxim  in  French  juris- 
prudence that  no  law  could  be  published  in  any  other  manner ; 
that  without  this  formality  no  edict  or  ordinance  could  have  any 
effect ;  that  the  people  were  not  bound  to  obey  it,  and  ought  not 
to  consider  it  as  an  edict  or  ordinance,  until  it  was  verified  in  the 
supreme  court  after  free  deliberation.  (Roche-flavin  des  Parle- 
mens  de^France,  410,  Gen.,  1621,  p.  921.)  The  parliament,  at 
different  times,  hath,  with  great  fortitude  and  integrity,  opposed 
the  will  of  their  sovereigns,  and,  notwithstanding  their  repeated 
and  peremptory  requisitions  and  commands,  hath  refused  to  verify 
and  publish  such  edicts  as  it  conceived  to  be  oppressive  to  the 
people  or  subversive  of  the  constitution  of  the  kingdom.  Roche- 
flavin  reckons  that  between  the  year  1562  and  the  year  1589  the 
parliament  refused  to  verify  more  than  a  hundred  edicts  of  the 
kings.  (Ibid.,  925.)  Many  instances  of  the  spirit  and  constancy 
with  which  the  parliaments  of  France  opposed  pernicious  laws 
and  asserted  their  own  privileges  are  enumerated  by  Limnseus  in 
his  Notitiae  Regni  Francise,  lib.  i.  c.  9,  p.  224. 

But  the  power  of  the  parliament  to  maintain  and  defend  this 
privilege  bore  no  proportion  to  its  importance,  or  to  the  courage 
with  which  the  members  asserted  it.  When  any  monarch  was 
determined  that  an  edict  should  be  carried  into  execution,  and 
found  the  parliament  inflexibly  resolved  not  to  verify  or  publish 
it,  he  could  easily  supply  this  defect  by  the  plenitude  of  his  regal 
power.  He  repaired  to  the  parliament  in  person,  he  took  posses- 
sion of  his  seat  of  justice,  and  commanded  the  edict  to  be  read, 
verified,  registered,  and  published  in  his  presence.  Then,  accord- 
ing to  another  maxim  of  French  law,  the  king  himself  being 
present,  neither  the  parliament  nor  any  magistrate  whatever  can 
exercise  any  authority  or  perform  any  function.  "  Adveniente 
principe,  cessat  magistratus."  (Roche-flavin,  ibid.,  pp.  928,  929; 
Encyclopedic,  torn,  ix.,  art.  Lit.  de  Justice,  p.  581.)  Roche-flavin 


PROOFS  AND   ILLUSTRATIONS.  351 

mentions  several  instances'  of  kings  who  actually  exerted  this 
prerogative,  so  fatal  to  the  residue  of  the  rights  and  liberties 
transmitted  to  the  Frtnch  by  their  ancestors.  Pasquier  produces 
some  instances  of  the  same  kind.  (Rech.,  p.  61.)  Limnaeus 
enumerates  many  other  instances ;  but  the  length  to  which  this 
note  has  swelled  prevents  me  from  inserting  them  at  length, 
though  they  tend  greatly  to  illustrate  this  important  article  in  the 
French  history  (p.  245).  Thus,  by  an  exertion  of  prerogative 
which,  though  violent,  seems  to  be  constitutional,  and  is  justified 
by  innumerable  precedents,  all  the  efforts  of  the  parliament  to  limit 
and  control  the  king's  legislative  authority  are  rendered  ineffectual. 
I  have  not  attempted  to  explain  the  constitution  or  jurisdiction 
of  any  parliament  in  France  but  that  of  Paris.  All  of  them  are 
formed  upon  the  model  of  that  most  ancient  and  respectable 
tribunal,  and  all  my  observations  concerning  it  will  apply  with 
full  force  to  them. 

NOTE  XLI.— Sect.  III.  p.  187. 

The  humiliating  posture  in  which  a  great  emperor  implored 
absolution  is  an  event  so  singular  that  the  words  in  which  Gregory 
himself  describes  it  merit  a  place  here,  and  convey  a  striking 
picture  of  the  arrogance  of  that  pontiff:  "Per  triduum,  ante 
portam  castri,  deposito  omni  regio  cultu,  miserabiliter,  utpote 
discalceatus,  et  laneis  indutus,  persistens,  non  prius  cum  multo 
fletu  apostolicse  miserationis  auxilium  et  consolationem  implorari 
deslilit,  quam  omnes  qui  ibi  aderant,  et  ad  quos  rumor  ille  per- 
venit,  ad  tantam  pietatem,  et  compassionis  misericordiam  movit, 
ut  pro  eo  multis  precibus  et  lacrymis  intercedentes,  omnes  quidem 
insolitam  nostrae  mentis  duritiem  mirarentur;  nonnulli  vero  in 
nobis  non  apostolicae  sedis  gravitatem,  sed  quasi  tyrannicse  feritatis 
crudelitatem  esse  clamarunt."  Epist.  Gregor.,  ap.  Memorie  della 
Contessa  Matilda  da  Fran.  Mar.  Fiorentini,  Lucca,  1756,  vol.  i 
p.  174. 

NOTE  XLII.— Sect.  III.  p.  196. 

As  I  have  endeavored  in  the  history  to  trace  the  various  steps  in 
the  progress  of  the  constitution  of  the  empire,  and  to  explain  the 


35  2 


PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


peculiarities  in  its  policy  very  fully,  it  is  not  necessary  to  add  much 
by  way  of  illustration.  What  appears  to  be  of  any  importance  I 
shall  range  under  distinct  heads. 

i.  With  respect  to  the  power,  jurisdiction,  and  revenue  of  the 
emperors.  A  very  just  idea  of  these  may  be  formed  by  attending 
to  the  view  which  Pfeffel  gives  of  the  rights  of  the  emperors  at 
two  different  periods.  The  first  at  the  close  of  the  Saxon  race, 
A.D.  1024.  These,  according  to  his  enumeration,  were  the  right 
of  conferring  all  the  great  ecclesiastical  benefices  in  Germany;  of 
receiving  the  revenues  of  them  during  a  vacancy ;  of  mortmain,  or 
of  succeeding  to  the  effects  of  ecclesiastics  who  died  intestate. 
The  righ^-of  confirming  or  of  annulling  the  elections  of  the  popes. 
The  right  of  assembling  councils,  and  of  appointing  them  to  decide 
concerning  the  affairs  of  the  Church.  The  right  of  conferring  the 
title  of  king  upon  their  vassals.  The  right  of  granting  vacant  fiefs. 
The  right  of  receiving  the  revenues  of  the  empire,  whether  arising 
from  the  imperial  domains,  from  imposts  and  tolls,  from  gold  or 
silver  mines,  from  the  taxes  paid  by  the  Jews,  or  from  forfeitures. 
The  right  of  governing  Italy  as  its  proper  sovereigns.  The  right 
of  erecting  free  cities  and  of  establishing  fairs  in  them.  The  right 
of  assembling  the  diets  of  the  empire  and  of  fixing  the  time  of 
their  duration.  The  right  of  coining  money,  and  of  conferring 
that  privilege  on  the  states  of  the  empire.  The  right  of  adminis- 
tering both  high  and  low  justice  within  the  territories  of  the 
different  states.  (Abrege,  p.  160.)  The  other  period  is  at  the 
extinction  of  the  emperors  of  the  families  of  Luxemburg  and 
Bavaria,  A.D.  1437.  According  to  the  same  author,  the  imperial 
prerogatives  at  that  time  were  the  right  of  conferring  all  dignities 
and  titles,  except  the  privilege  of  being  a  state  of  the  empire. 
The  right  of  preces  primaries,  or  of  appointing  once  during  their 
reign  a  dignitary  in  each  chapter  or  religious  house.  The  right 
of  granting  dispensations  with  respect  to  the  age  of  majority. 
The  right  of  erecting  cities  and  of  conferring  the  privilege  of 
coining  money.  The  right  of  calling  the  meetings  of  the  diet  and 
of  presiding  in  them.  (Abrege,  etc.,  p.  507.)  It  were  easy  to 
show  that  Mr.  Pfeffel  is  well  founded  in  all  these  assertions,  and 
confirm  them  by  the  testimony  of  the  most  respectable  authors. 


PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


353 


In  the  one  period  the  emperors  appear  as  mighty  sovereigns  with 
extensive  prerogatives ;  in  the  other,  as  the  heads  of  a  confederacy 
with  very  limited  powers. 

The  revenues  of  the  emperors  decreased  still  more  than  their 
authority.  The  early  emperors,  and  particularly  those  of  the 
Saxon  line,  besides  their  great  patrimonial  or  hereditary  territories, 
possessed  an  extensive  domain  both  in  Italy  and  Germany,  which 
belonged  to  them  as  emperors.  Italy  belonged  to  the  emperors  as 
their  proper  kingdom,  and  the  revenues  which  they  drew  from  it 
were  very  considerable.  The  first  alienations  of  the  imperial 
revenue  were  made  in  that  country.  The  Italian  cities,  having 
acquired  wealth,  and  aspiring  at  independence,  purchased  their 
liberty  from  different  emperors,  as  I  have  observed,  Note  XV. 
The  sums  which  they  paid,  and  the  emperors  with  whom  they 
concluded  these  bargains,  are  mentioned  by  Casp.  Klockius  de 
/Erario,  Norimb.,  1671,  p.  85,  etc.  Charles  IV.  and  his  son 
Wenceslaus  dissipated  all  that  remained  of  the  Italian  branch  of 
the  domain.  The  German  domain  lay  chiefly  upon  the  banks  of 
the  Rhine,  and  was  under  the  government  of  the  counts  palatine. 
It  is  not  easy  to  mark  out  the  boundaries  or  to  estimate  the  value 
of  this  ancient  domain,  which  has  been  so  long  incorporated  with 
the  territories  of  different  princes.  Some  hints  with  respect  to  it 
may  be  found  in  the  glossary  of  Speidelius,  which  he  has  en- 
titled Speculum  Juridico-Philologico-Politico-Historicum  Observa- 
tionum,  etc.,  Norimb.,  1673,  vol.  i.  pp.  679,  1045.  A  more  full 
account  of  it  is  given  by  Klockius  de  ./Erario,  p.  84.  Besides 
this,  the  emperors  possessed  considerable  districts  of  land  lying 
intermixed  with  the  estates  of  the  dukes  and  barons.  They  were 
accustomed  to  visit  these  frequently,  and  drew  from  their  vassals 
in  each  what  was  sufficient  to  support  their  court  during  the  time 
of  their  residence  among  them.  (Annalistse,  ap.  Struv.,  torn.  i.  p. 
611.)  A  great  part  of  these  detached  possessions  was  seized  by 
the  nobles  during  the  long  interregnum,  or  during  the  wars  oc- 
casioned by  the  contests  between  the  emperors  and  the  court  of 
Rome.  At  the  same  lime  that  such  encroachments  were  made  on 
the  fixed  or  territorial  property  of  the  emperors,  they  were  robbed 
almost  entirely  of  their  casual  revenues,  the  princes  and  barons 
30* 


354  PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

appropriating  to  themselves  taxes  and  duties  of  every  kind,  which 
had  usually  been  paid  to  them.  (Pfeffel,  Abrege,  p.  374.)  The 
profuse  and  inconsiderate  ambition  of  Charles  IV.  squandered 
whatever  remained  of  the  imperial  revenues  after  so  many  de 
falcations.  He,  in  the  year  1376,  in  order  to  prevail  with  the 
electors  to  choose  his  son  Wenceslaus  king  of  the  Romans, 
promised  each  of  them  a  hundred  thousand  crowns.  But  being 
unable  to  pay  so  large  a  sum,  and  eager  to  secure  the  election  to 
his  son,  he  alienated  to  the  three  ecclesiastical  electors,  and  to  the 
count  palatine,  such  countries  as  still  belonged  to  the  imperial 
domain  on  the  banks  of  the  Rhine,  and  likewise  made  over  to 
them  all  .the  taxes  and  tolls  then  levied  by  the  emperors  in  that 
district.  Trithemius,  and  the  author  of  the  Chronicle  of  Magde- 
burg, enumerate  the  territories  and  taxes  which  were  thus  alien- 
ated, and  represent  this  as  the  last  and  fatal  blow  to  the  imperial 
authority.  (Struv.,  Corp.,  vol.  i.  p.  437.)  From  that  period  the 
shreds  of  the  ancient  revenues  possessed  by  the  emperors  have 
been  so  inconsiderable  that,  in  the  opinion  of  Speidelius,  all  that 
they  yield  would  be  so  far  from  defraying  the  expense  of  sup- 
porting their  household  that  they  would  not  pay  the  charge  of 
maintaining  the  posts  established  in  the  empire.  (Speidelii 
Speculum,  etc.,  vol.  i.  p.  680.)  These  funds,  inconsiderable  as 
they  were,  continued  to  decrease.  Granvelle,  the  minister  of 
Charles  V.,  asserted  in  the  year  1546,  in  presence  of  several  of  the 
German  princes,  that  his  master  drew  no  money  at  all  from  the 
empire.  (Sleid.,  History  of  the  Reformation,  Lond.,  1689,  p.  372.) 
The  same  is  the  case  at  present.  (Trait6  du  Droit  publique  de 
1'Empire,  par  M.  le  Coq  de  Villeray,  p.  55.)  From  the  reign  of 
Charles  IV.,  whom  Maximilian  called  the  "  pest  of  the  empire," 
the  emperors  have  depended  entirely  on  their  hereditary  dominions 
as  the  chief  and  almost  the  only  source  of  their  power,  and  even 
of  their  subsistence. 

2.  The  ancient  mode  of  electing  the  emperors,  and  the  various 
changes  which  it  underwent,  require  some  illustration.  The  im- 
perial crown  was  originally  attained  by  election,  as  well  as  those 
of  most  monarchies  in  Europe.  An  opinion  long  prevailed  among 
the  antiquaries  and  public  lawyers  of  Germany  that  the  right  of 


PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS.  355 

choosing  the  emperors  was  vested  in  the  archbishops  of  Mentz, 
Cologne,  and  Treves,  the  king  of  Bohemia,  the  duke  of  Saxony, 
the  marquis  of  Brandenburg,  and  the  count  palatine  of  the  Rhine, 
by  an  edict  of  Otho  III.,  confirmed  by  Gregory  V.  about  the  year 
996.  But  the  whole  tenor  of  history  contradicts  this  opinion.  It 
appears  that  from  the  earliest  period  in  the  history  of  Germany  the 
person  who  was  to  reign  over  all  was  elected  by  the  suffrage  of  all. 
Thus,  Conrad  I.  was  elected  by  all  the  people  of  the  Franks,  say 
some  annalists;  by  all  the  princes  and  chief  men,  say  others; 
by  all  the  nations,  say  others.  (See  their  words,  Struv.,  Corp., 
p.  211;  Conringius  de  German.  Imper.  Repub.  Acroamata  Sex., 
Ebroduni,  1654,  p.  103.)  In  the  year  1024,  posterior  to  the  sup- 
posed regulations  of  Otho  III.,  Conrad  II.  was  elected  by  all  the 
chief  men,  and  his  election  was  approved  and  confirmed  by  the 
people.  (Struv.,  Corp.,  p.  284.)  At.the  election  of  Lotharius  II., 
A.D.  1125,  sixty  thousand  'persons  of  all  ranks  were  present.  He 
was  named  by  the  chief  men,  and  their  nomination  was  approved 
by  the  people.  (Struv.,  Corp.,  p.  357.)  The  first  author  who 
mentions  the  seven  electors  is  Martinus  Polonus,  who  flourished 
in  the  reign  of  Frederic  II.,  which  ended  A.D.  1250.  We  find 
that  in  all  the  ancient  elections  to  which  I  have  referred  the 
princes  of  the  greatest  power  and  authority  were  allowed  by  their 
countrymen  to  name  the  person  whom  they  wished  to  appoint 
emperor,  and  the  people  approved  or  disapproved  of  their  nomi- 
nation. This  privilege  of  voting  first  is  called  by  the  German 
lawyers  the  right  of  prataxation.  (Pfeffel,  Abrege,  p.  316.)  This 
was  the  first  origin  of  the  exclusive  right  which  the  electors 
acquired.  The  electors  possessed  the  most  extensive  territories 
of  any  princes  in  the  empire;  all  the  great  offices  of  the  state 
were  in  their  hands  by  hereditary  right;  as  soon  as  they  obtained 
or  engrossed  so  much  influence  in  the  election  as  to  be  allowed 
the  right  of  praetaxation,  it  was  vain  to  oppose  their  will,  and  it 
even  became  unnecessary  for  the  inferior  ecclesiastics  and  barons 
to  attend,  when  they  had  no  other  function  but  that  of  confirming 
the  deed  of  these  more  powerful  princes  by  their  assent.  During 
times  of  turbulence,  the  subordinate  members  of  the  Germanic 
body  could  not  resort  to  the  place  of  election  without  a  retinue  of 


356  PROOFS  AND   ILLUSTRATIONS. 

armed  vassals,  the  expense  of  which  they  were  obliged  to  defray 
out  of  their  own  revenues;  and,  finding  their  attendance  to  be 
unnecessary,  they  were  unwilling  to  waste  them  to  no  purpose. 
The  rights  of  the  seven  electors  were  supported  by  all  the  de- 
scendants and  allies  of  their  powerful  families,  who  shared  in  the 
splendor  and  influence  which  they  enjoyed  by  this  distinguishing 
privilege.  (Pfeffel,  Abrege,  p.  376.)  The  seven  electors  were 
considered  as  the  representatives  of  all  the  orders  which  composed 
the  highest  class  of  German  nobility.  There  were  three  arch- 
bishops, chancellors  of  the  three  great  districts  into  which  the 
empire  was  anciently  divided,  one  king,  one  duke,  one  marquis, 
and  one  Count.  All  these  circumstances  contributed  to  render  the 
introduction  of  this  considerable  innovation  into  the  constitution 
of  the  Germanic  body  extremely  easy.  Every  thing  of  importance 
relating  to  this  branch  of  the  political  state  of  the  empire  is  well 
illustrated  by  Onuphrius  Panvanius,  an  Augustinian  monk  of 
Verona,  who  lived  in  the  reign  of  Charles  V.  His  treatise,  if  we 
make  some  allowance  for  that  partiality  which  he  expresses  in 
favor  of  the  powers  which  the  popes  claimed  in  the  empire,  has 
the  merit  of  being  one  of  the  first  works  in  which  a  controverted 
point  in  history  is  examined  with  critical  precision  and  with  a 
proper  attention  to  that  evidence  which  is  derived  from  records 
or  the  testimony  of  contemporary  historians.  It  is  inserted  by 
Goldastus  in  his  Politica  Imperialia,  p.  2. 

As  the  electors  have  engrossed  the  sole  right  of  choosing  the 
emperors,  they  have  assumed  likewise  that  of  deposing  them. 
This  high  power  the  electors  have  not  only  presumed  to  claim,  but 
have  ventured,  in  more  than  one  instance,  to  exercise.  In  the  year 
1298  a  part  of  the  electors  deposed  Adolphus  of  Nassau  and  sub- 
stituted Albert  of  Austria  in  his  place.  The  reasons  on  which 
they  found  their  sentence  show  that  this  deed  flowed  from  factious, 
not  from  public-spirited,  motives.  (Struv.,  Corp  ,  vol.  i.  p.  540.) 
In  the  first  year  of  the  fifteenth  century  the  electors  deposed 
Wenceslaus  and  placed  the  imperial  crown  on  the  head  of  Rupert, 
elector  palatine.  The  act  of  deposition  is  still  extant.  (Goldasti 
Constit.,  vol.  i.  p.  379.)  It  is  pronounced  in  the  name  and  by  the 
authority  of  the  electors,  and  confirmed  by  several  prelates  and 


PROOFS  AND   ILLUSTRATIONS.  357 

barons  of  the  empire,  who  were  present.  These  exertions  of  the 
electoral  power  demonstrate  that  the  imperial  authority  was  sunk 
very  low. 

The  other  privileges  of  the  electors,  and  the  rights  of  the  elec- 
toral college,  are  explained  by  the  writers  on  the  public  law  in 
Germany. 

3.  With  respect  to  the  diets,  or  general  assemblies  of  the  em- 
pire, it  would  be  necessary,  if  my  object  were  to  write  a  particular 
history  of  Germany,  to  enter  into  a  minute  detail  concerning  the 
forms  of  assembling  them,  the  persons  who  have  a  right  to  be 
present,  their  division  into  several  colleges  or  benches,  the  objects 
of  their  deliberation,  the  mode  in  which  they  carry  on  their 
debates  or  give  their  suffrages,  and  the  authority  of  their  decrees 
or  recesses.  But,  as  my  only  object  is  to  give  the  outlines  of  the 
constitution  of  the  German  empire,  it  will  be  sufficient  to  observe 
that  originally  the  diets  of  the  empire  were  exactly  the  same  with 
the  assemblies  of  March  and  of  May,  held  by  the  kings  of  France. 
They  met  at  least  once  a  year.  Every  freeman  had  a  right  to  be 
present.  They  were  assemblies  in  which  a  monarch  deliberated 
with  his  subjects  concerning  their  common  interest.  (Arumseus 
de  Comitiis  Rom.  German.  Imperii,  4to,  Jense,  1660,  cap.  7,  no. 
20,  etc.)  But  when  the  princes,  dignified  ecclesiastics,  and  barons 
acquired  territorial  and  independent  jurisdiction,  the  diet  became 
an  assembly  of  the  separate  states,  which  formed  the  confederacy 
of  which  the  emperor  was  head.  While  the  constitution  of  the 
empire  remained  in  its  primitive  form,  attendance  on  the  diets 
was  a  duty,  like  the  other  services  due  from  feudal  subjects  to 
their  sovereign,  which  the  members  were  bound  to  perform  in 
person ;  and  if  any  member  who  had  a  right  to  be  present  in  the 
diet  neglected  to  attend  in  person,  he  not  only  lost  his  vote,  but 
was  liable  to  a  heavy  penalty.  (Arumseus  de  Comit.,  c  5,  no.  40.) 
Whereas,  from  the  time  that  the  members  of  the  diet  became 
independent  states,  the  right  of  suffrage  was  annexed  to  the  terri- 
tory or  dignity,  not  to  the  person.  The  members,  if  they  could 
not,  or  would  not,  attend  in  person,  might  send  their  deputies,  as 
princes  send  ambassadors,  and  they  were  entitled  to  exercise  all 
the  rights  belonging  to  their  constituents.  (Ibid.,  no.  42,  46,  49.) 


358  PROOFS  AND   ILLUSTRATIONS. 

By  degrees,  and  upon  the  same  principle  of  considering  the  diet 
as  an  assembly  of  independent  states,  in  which  each  confederate 
had  the  right  of  suffrage,  if  any  member  possessed  more  than  one 
of  those  states  or  characters  which  entitle  to  a  seat  in  the  diet,  he 
was  allowed  a  proportional  number  of  suffrages.  (Pfeffel,  Abrege, 
p.  622.)  From  the  same  cause,  the  imperial  cities,  as  soon  as  they 
became  free  and  acquired  supreme  and  independent  jurisdiction 
within  their  own  territories,  were  received  as  members  of  the 
diet.  The  powers  of  the  diet  extend  to  every  thing  relative  to 
the  common  concern  of  the  Germanic  body  or  that  can  interest 
or  affect  it  as  a  confederacy.  The  diet  takes  no  cognizance  of  the 
interior  administration  in  the  different  states,  unless  that  happens 
to  disturb  or  threaten  the  general  safety. 

4.  With  respect  to  the  imperial  chamber,  the  jurisdiction  of 
which  has  been  the  great  source  of  order  and  tranquillity  in  Ger- 
many, it  is  necessary  to  observe  that  this  court  was  instituted  in 
order  to  put  an  end  to  the  calamities  occasioned  by  private  wars 
in  Germany.  I  have  already  traced  the  rise  and  progress  of  this 
practice,  and  pointed  out  its  pernicious  effects  as  fully  as  their 
extensive  influence  during  the  Middle  Ages  required.  In  Ger- 
many, private  wars  seem  to  have  been  more  frequent  and  produc- 
tive of  worse  consequences  than  in  the  other  countries  of  Europe. 
There  are  obvious  reasons  for  this.  The  nobility  of  Germany 
were  extremely  numerous,  and  the  causes,  of  their  dissension 
multiplied  in  proportion.  The  territorial  jurisdiction  which  the 
German  nobles  acquired  was  more  complete  than  that  possessed 
by  their  order  in  other  nations.  They  became,  in  reality,  inde- 
pendent powers,  and  they  claimed  all  the  privileges  of  that  char- 
acter. The  long  interregnum  from  A.D.  1256  to  A.D.  1273  accus- 
tomed them  to  an  uncontrolled  license,  and  led  them  to  forget 
that  subordination  which  is  necessary  in  order  to  maintain  public 
tranquillity.  At  the  time  when  the  other  monarchs  of  Europe 
began  to  acquire  such  an  increase  of  power  and  revenues  as  added 
new  vigor  to  their  government,  the  authority  and  revenues  of  the 
emperors  continued  gradually  to  decline.  The  diets  of  the  empire, 
which  alone  had  authority  to  judge  between  such  mighty  barons, 
and  power  to  enforce  its  decisions,  met  very  seldom.  (Conring., 


PROOFS  AND   ILLUSTRATIONS.  359 

Acroamata,  p.  234.)  The  diets,  when  they  did  assemble,  were 
often  composed  of  several  thousand  members  (Chronic.  Constant., 
ap.  Struv.,  CorpT,  i.  546),  and  were  tumultuary  assemblies,  ill 
qualified  to  decide  concerning  any  question  of  right.  The  session 
of  the  diet  continued  only  two  or  three  days  (Pfeffel,  Abrege,  p. 
244) ;  so  that  they  had  no  time  to  hear  or  discuss  any  cause  that 
was  in  the  smallest  degree  intricate.  Thus  Germany  was  left,  in 
some  measure,  without  any  court  of  judicature  capable  of  deciding 
the  contests  between  its  more  powerful  members,  or  of  repressing 
the  evils  occasioned  by  their  private  wars. 

All  the  expedients  which  were  employed  in  other  countries  of 
Europe  in  order  to  restrain  this  practice,  and  which  I  have  de- 
scribed, Note  XXL,  were  tried  in  Germany  with  little  effect.  The 
confederacies  of  the  nobles  and  of  the  cities,  and  the  division  of 
Germany  into  various  circles,  which  I  mentioned  in  that  note, 
were  found  likewise  insufficient.  As  a  last  remedy,  the  Germans 
had  recourse  to  arbiters,  whom  they  called  austrega.  The  barons 
and  states  in  different  parts  of  Germany  joined  in  conventions, 
by  which  they  bound  themselves  to  refer  all  controversies  that 
might  arise  between  them  to  the  determination  of  azisiregcz  and 
to  submit  to  their  sentences  as  final.  These  arbiters  are  named 
sometimes  in  the  treaty  of  convention,  an  instance  of  which 
occurs  in  Ludewig,  Reliquiae  Manuscr.  omnis  ALvi,  vol.  ii.  p.  212; 
sometimes  they  were  chosen  by  mutual  consent  upon  occasion  of 
any  contest  that  arose;  sometimes  they  were  appointed  by  neutral 
persons  ;  and  sometimes  the  choice  was  left  to  be  decided  by  lot. 
(Datt.,  de  Pace  Publica  Imperil,  lib.  i.  cap.  27,  no.  60,  etc.;  Spei- 
delius,  Speculum,  etc.,  voc.  Austrag.,  p.  95.)  Upon  the  introduc- 
tion of  this  practice,  the  public  tribunals  of  justice  became  in  a 
great  measure  useless,  and  were  almost  entirely  deserted. 

In  order  to  re-establish  the  authority  of  government,  Maximilian 
I.  instituted  the  imperial  chamber  at  the  period  which  I  have 
mentioned.  This  tribunal  consisted  originally  of  a  president,  who 
was  always  a  nobleman  of  the  first  order,  and  of  sixteen  judges. 
The  president  was  appointed  by  the  emperor,  and  the  judges 
partly  by  him  and  partly  by  the  states,  according  to  forms  which 
it  is  unnecessary  to  describe.  A  sum  was  imposed,  with  their 


360  PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

own  consent,  on  the  states  of  the  empire,  for  paying  the  salaries 
of  the  judges  and  officers  in  this  court.  The  imperial  chamber 
was  established  first  at  Frankfort-on-the-Main.  'During  the  reign 
of  Charles  V.  it  was  removed  to  Spires,  and  continued  in  that 
city  above  a  century  and  a  half.  It  is  now  fixed  at  Wetzlar. 
This  court  takes  cognizance  of  all  questions  concerning  civil  right 
between  the  states  of  the  empire,  and  passes  judgment  in  the  last 
resort,  and  without  appeal.  To  it  belongs  likewise  the  privilege 
of  judging  in  criminal  causes,  which  may  be  considered  as  con- 
nected with  the  preservation  of  the  public  peace.  Pfeffel,  Abrege, 

P-  560-   . 

All  c*auses  relating  to  points  of  feudal  right  or  jurisdiction, 
together  with  such  as  respect  the  territories  which  hold  of  the 
empire  in  Italy,  belong  properly  to  the  jurisdiction  of  the  aulic 
council.  This  tribunal  was  formed  upon  the  model  of  the  ancient 
court  of  the  palace  instituted  by  the  emperors  of  Germany.  It 
depended  not  upon  the  states  of  the  empire,  but  upon  the  emperor, 
he  having  the  right  of  appointing  at  pleasure  all  the  judges  of 
whom  it  is  composed.  Maximilian,  in  order  to  procure  some  com- 
pensation for  the  diminution  of  his  authority  by  the  powers  vested 
in  the  imperial  chamber,  prevailed  on  the  diet,  A.D.  1512,  to  give 
its  consent  to  the  establishment  of  the  aulic  council.  Since  that 
time  it  has  been  a  great  object  of  policy  in  the  court  of  Vienna  to 
extend  the  jurisdiction  and  support  the  authority  of  the  aulic 
council  and  to  circumscribe  and  weaken  those  of  the  imperial 
chamber.  The  tedious  forms  and  dilatory  proceedings  of  the  im- 
perial chamber  have  furnished  the  emperors  with  pretexts  for 
doing  so.  "  Lites  Spirse,"  according  to  the  witticism  of  a  German 
lawyer,  "  spirant,  sed  nunquam  expirant."  Such  delays  are  un- 
avoidable in  a  court  composed  of  members  named  by  many  differ- 
ent states  jealous  of  each  other.  Whereas  the  judges  of  the  aulic 
council,  depending  upon  one  master  and  being  responsible  to  him 
alone,  are  more  vigorous  and  decisive.  Puffendorf,  De  Statu 
Imper.  German.,  cap.  v.  g  20;  Pfeffel,  Abrege,  p.  581. 


PROOFS  AND   ILLUSTRATIONS.  361 


NOTE  XLIII.— Sect  III.  p.  199. 

The  description  which  I  have  given  of  .the  Turkish  government 
is  conformable  to  the  accounts  of  the  most  intelligent  travellers 
who  have  visited  that  empire.  The  Count  de  Marsigli,  in  his 
treatise  concerning  the  military  state  of  the  Turkish  empire,  ch.  vi., 
and  the  author  of  Observations  on  the  Religion,  Laws,  Govern- 
ment, and  Manners  of  the  Turks,  published  at  London,  1768,  vol. 
i.  p.  81,  differ  from  other  writers  who  have  described  the  political 
constitution  of  that  powerful  monarchy.  As  they  had  opportunity, 
during  their  long  residence  in  Turkey,  to  observe  the  order  and 
justice  conspicuous  in  several  departments  of  administration,  they 
seem  unwilling  to  admit  that  it  should  be  denominated  a  despotism. 
But  when  the  form  of  government  in  any  country  is  represented 
to  be  despotic,  this  does  not  suppose  that  the  power  of  the  mon- 
arch is  continually  exerted  in  acts  of  violence,  injustice,  and 
cruelty.  Under  political  constitutions  of  every  species,  unless 
when  some  frantic  tyrant  happens  to  hold  the  sceptre,  the  ordinary 
administration  of  government  must  be  conformable  to  the  princi- 
ples of  justice,  and,  if  not  active  in  promoting  the  welfare  of  the 
people,  cannot  certainly  have  their  destruction  for  its  object.  A 
state  in  which  the  sovereign  possesses  the  absolute  command  of  a 
vast  military  force,  together  with  the  disposal  of  an  extensive 
revenue,  in  which  the  people  have  no  privileges  and  no  part  either 
immediate  or  remote  in  legislation,  in  which  there  is  no  body  of 
hereditary  nobility,  jealous  of  their  own  rights  and  distinctions,  to 
stand  as  an  intermediate  order  between  the  prince  and  the  people, 
cannot  be  distinguished  by  any  name  but  that  of  a  despotism. 
The  restraints,  however,  which  I  have  mentioned,  arising  from  the 
capiculy  and  from  religion,  are  powerful.  But  they  are  not  such 
as  change  the  nature  or  denomination  of  the  government.  When 
a  despotic  prince  employs  an  armed  force  to  support  his  authority, 
he  commits  the  supreme  power  to  their  hands.  The  praetorian 
bands  in  Rome  dethroned,  murdered,  and  exalted  their  princes 
in  the  same  wanton  manner  with  the  soldiery  of  the  Porte  at  Con- 
stantinople. But,  notwithstanding  this,  the  Roman  emperors  have 
Charles. — Vol..  I.— o  31 


362  PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

been  considered  by  all  political  writers  as  possessing  despotic 
powers. 

The  author  of  Observations  on  the  Religion,  Laws,  Govern- 
ment, and  Manners  of  the  Turks,  in  a  preface  to  the  second  edi- 
tion of  his  work,  hath  made  some  remarks  on  what  is  contained 
in  this  note  and  in  that  part  of  the  text  to  which  it  refers.  It  is 
with  diffidence  I  set  my  opinion  in  opposition  to  that  of  a  person 
who  has  observed  the  government  of  the  Turks  with  attention  and 
has  described  it  with  abilities.  But,  after  a  careful  review  of  the 
subject,  to  me  the  Turkish  government  still  appears  of  such  a 
species  as  can  be  ranged  in  no  class  but  that  to  which  political 
writer?  have  given  the  name  of  despotism.  There  is  not  in  Turkey 
any  constitutional  restraint  upon  the  will  of  the  sovereign,  or  any 
barrier  to  circumscribe  the  exercise  of  his  power,  but  the  two 
which  I  have  mentioned  :  one  afforded  by  religion,  the  principle 
upon  which  the  authority  of  the  sultan  is  founded,  the  other  by 
the  army,  the  instrument  which  he  must  employ  to  maintain  his 
power.  The  author  represents  the  ulema,  or  body  of  the  law,  as 
an  intermediate  order  between  the  monarch  and  the  people. 
(Pref.,  p.  30.)  But  whatever  restraint  the  authority  of  the  ulema 
may  impose  upon  the  sovereign  is  derived  from  religion.  The 
moulahs,  out  of  whom  the  mufti  and  other  chief  officers  of  the 
law  must  be  chosen,  are  ecclesiastics.  It  is  as  interpreters  of  the 
Koran  or  divine  will  that  they  are  objects  of  .veneration.  The  check, 
then,  which  they  give  to  the  exercise  of  arbitrary  power  is  not  dif- 
ferent from  one  of  those  of  which  I  took  notice.  Indeed,  this  re- 
straint cannot  be  very  considerable.  The  mufti,  who  is  the  head 
of  the  order,  as  well  as  every  inferior  officer  of  law,  is  named  by 
the  sultan,  and  is  removable  at  his  pleasure.  The  strange  means 
employed  by  the  ulema  in  1746  to  obtain  the  dismission  of  a  min- 
ister whom  they  hated  is  a  manifest  proof  that  they  possess  but 
little  constitutional  authority  which  can  serve  as  a  restraint  upon 
the  will  of  the  sovereign.  (Observat,  p.  92  of  2d  edit.)  If  the 
author's  idea  be  just,  it  is  astonishing  that  the  body  of  the  law 
should  have  no  method  of  remonstrating  against  the  errors  of  ad- 
ministration but  by  setting  fire  to  the  capital. 

The  author  seems  to  consider  the  capiculy,  or  soldiery  of  the 


PROOFS  AND   ILLUSTRATIONS.  363 

Porte,  neither  as  formidable  instruments  of  the  sultan's  power  nor 
as  any  restraint  upon  the  exercise  of  it.  His  reasons  for  this 
opinion  are  that  the  number  of  the  capiculy  is  small  in  proportion 
to  the  other  troops  which  compose  the  Turkish  armies,  and  that 
in  time  of  peace  they  are  undisciplined.  (Pref.,  2d  edit.,  p.  23, 
etc.)  But  the  troops  stationed  in  a  capital,  though  their  number 
be  not  great,  are  always  masters  of  the  sovereign's  person  and 
power.  The  praetorian  bands  bore  no  proportion  to  the  legionary 
troops  in  the  frontier  provinces.  The  soldiery  of  the  Porte  are 
more  numerous,  and  must  possess  power  of  the  same  kind,  and 
be  equally  formidable,  sometimes  to  the  sovereign,  and  oftener  to 
the  people.  However  much  the  discipline  of  the  janizaries  may 
be  neglected  at  present,  it  certainly  was  not  so  in  that  age  to  which 
alone  my  description  of  the  Turkish  government  applies.  The 
author  observes  (Pref.,  p.  29)  that  the  janizaries  never  deposed 
any  sultan  of  themselves,  but  that  some  form  of  law,  true  or  false, 
has  been  observed,  and  that  either  the  mufti,  or  some  other  min- 
ister of  religion,  has  announced  to  the  unhappy  prince  the  law 
which  renders  him  unworthy  of  the  throne.  (Observ.,  p.  102.) 
This  will  always  happen.  In  every  revolution,  though  brought 
about  by  military  power,  the  deeds  of  the  soldiery  must  be  con- 
firmed and  carried  into  execution  with  the  civil  and  religious 
formalities  peculiar  to  the  constitution. 

This  addition  to  the  note  may  serve  as  a  further  illustration  of 
my  own  sentiments,  but  is  not  made  with  an  intention  of  entering 
into  any  controversy  with  the  author  of  Observations,  etc.,  to  whom 
I  am  indebted  for  the  obliging  terms  in  which  he  has  expressed  his 
remarks  upon  what  I  had  advanced.  Happy  were  it  for  such  as 
ventured  to  communicate  their  opinions  to  the  world,  if  every 
animadversion  upon  them  were  conveyed  with  the  same  candid 
and  liberal  spirit.  In  one  particular,  however,  he  seems  to  have 
misapprehended  what  I  meant.  (Pref.,  p.  17.)  I  certainly  did 
not  mention  his  or  Count  Marsigli's  long  residence  in  Turkey  as 
a  circumstance  which  should  detract  from  the  weight  of  their 
authority.  I  took  notice  of  it  in  justice  to  my  readers,  that  they 
might  receive  my  opinion  with  distrust,  as  it  differed  from  that  of 
persons  whose  means  of  information  were  so  far  superior  to  mine. 


364  PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

NOTE  XLIV.— Sect.  III.  p.  201. 

The  institution,  the  discipline,  and  privileges  of  the  janiza- 
ries are  described  by  all  the  authors  who  give  any  account  of  the 
Turkish  government.  The  manner  in  which  enthusiasm  was 
employed  in  order  to  inspire  them  with  courage  is  thus  related  by 
Prince  Cantemir :  "  When  Amurath  I.  had  formed  them  into  a 
body,  he  sent  them  to  Haji  Bektash,  a  Turkish  saint,  famous  for 
his  miracles  and  prophecies,  desiring  him  to  bestow  on  them  a 
banner,  to  pray  God  for  their  success,  and  to  give  them  a  name. 
The  saint,  when  they  appeared  in  his  presence,  put  the  sleeve  of 
his  gown"  upon  one  of  their  heads,  and  said,  Let  them  be  called 
Yengicheri.  Let  their  countenance  be  ever  bright,  their  hands 
victorious,  their  swords  keen ;  let  their  spear  always  hang  over 
the  heads  of  their  enemies,  and  wherever  they  go,  may  they 
return  with  a  shining  face."  (History  of  the  Ottoman  Empire, 
p.  38.)  The  number  of  janizaries  at  the  fisst  institution  of  the 
body  was  not  considerable.  Under  Solyman,  in  the  year  1521, 
they  amounted  to  twelve  thousand.  Since  that  time  their  num- 
ber has  greatly  increased.  (Marsigli,  Etat,  etc.,  ch.  xvi.  p.  68.) 
Though  Solyman  possessed  such  abilities  and  authority  as  to  re- 
strain this  formidable  body  within  the  bounds  of  obedience,  yet 
its  tendency  to  limit  the  power  of  the  sultans  was,  even  in  that 
age,  foreseen  by  sagacious  observers.  Nicolas  Daulphinois,  who  ' 
accompanied  M.  d'Aramon,  ambassador  from  Henry  II.  of  France 
to  Solyman,  published  an  account  of  his  travels,  in  which  he 
describes  and  celebrates  the  discipline  of  the  janizaries,  but  at  the 
same  time  predicts  that  they  would  one  day  become  formidable 
to  their  masters,  and  act  the  same  part  at  Constantinople  as  the 
praetorian  bands  had  done  at  Rome.  Collection  of  Voyages  from 
the  Earl  of  Oxford's  Library,  vol.  i.  p.  599. 

NOTE  XLV.— Sect.  III.  p.  203. 

Solyman  the  Magnificent,  to  whom  the  Turkish  historians  have 
given  the  surname  of  canuni,  or  institutor  of  rules,  first  brought 
the  finances  and  military  establishment  of  the  Turkish  empire  into 


PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS.  365 

a  regular  form.  He  divided  the  military  force  into  the  capiculy, 
or  soldiery  of  the  Porte,  which  was  properly  the  standing  army, 
and  serrataculy,  or  soldiers  appointed  to  guard  the  frontiers.  The 
chief  strength  of  the  latter  consisted  of  those  who  held  timariots 
and  ziams.  These  were  portions  of  land  granted  to  certain  persons 
for  life,  in  much  the  same  manner  as  the  military  fiefs  among  the 
nations  of  Europe,  in  return  for  which  military  service  was  per- 
formed. Solyman,  in  his  Camm-Namt,  or  book  of  regulations, 
fixed  with  great  accuracy  the  extent  of  these  lands  in  each  prov- 
ince of  his  empire,  appointed  the  precise  number  of  soldiers  each 
person  who  held  a  timariot  or  a  ziam  should  bring  into  the  field, 
and  established  the  pay  which  they  should  receive  while  engaged 
in  service.  Count  Marsigli  and  Sir  Paul  Rycaut  have  given  extracts 
from  this  book  of  regulations,  and  it  appears  that  the  ordinary 
establishment  of  the  Turkish  army  exceeded  a  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand  men.  When  these  were  added  to  the  soldiery  of  the 
Porte,  they  formed  a  military  power  greatly  superior  to  what  any 
Christian  state  could  command  in  the  sixteenth  century.  (Marsigli, 
Etat  Militaire,  etc.,  p.  136;  Rycaut's  State  of  the  Ottoman  Empire, 
book  iii.  ch.  ii.)  As  Solyman,  during  his  active  reign,  was  engaged 
so  constantly  in  war  that  his  troops  were  always  in  the  field,  the 
serrataculy  became  almost  equal  to  the  janizaries  themselves  in 
discipline  and  valor. 

It  is  not  surprising,  then,  that  the  authors  of  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury should  represent  the  Turks  as  far  superior  to  the  Christians 
both  in  the  knowledge  and  in  the  practice  of  the  art  of  war. 
Guicciardini  informs  us  that  the  Italians  learned  the  art  of  fortify- 
ing towns  from  the  Turks.  (Histor.,  lib.  xv.  p.  266.)  Busbequius, 
who  was  ambassador  from  the  emperor  Ferdinand  to  Solyman,  and 
who  had  opportunity  to  observe  the  state  both  of  the  Christian  and 
Turkish  armies,  published  a  discourse  concerning  the  best  manner 
of  carrying  on  war  against  the  Turks,  in  which  he  points  out  at 
great  length  the  immense  advantages  which  the  infidels  possessed 
with  respect  to  discipline  and  military  improvements  of  every  kind. 
(Busbequii  Opera,  edit.  Elzevir,  p.  393,  etc.)  The  testimony  of 
other  authors  might  be  added,  if  the  matter  were  in  any  degree 
doubtful. 


366  PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

Before  I  conclude  these  Proofs  and  Illustrations,  I  ought  to 
explain  the  reason  of  two  omissions  in  them :  one  of  which  it  is 
necessary  to  mention  on  my  own  account,  the  other  to  obviate  an 
objection  to  this  part  of  the  work. 

In  all  my  inquiries  and  disquisitions  concerning  the  progress  of 
government,  manners,  literature,  and  commerce  during  the  Middle 
Ages,  as  well  as  in  my  delineations  of  the  political  constitution  of 
the  different  states  of  Europe  at  the  opening  of  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury, I  have  not  once  mentioned  M.  de  Voltaire,  who  in  his  Essai 
sur  F  Histoire  genirale  has  reviewed  the  same  period  and  has 
treated  of  all  these  subjects.  This  does  not  proceed  from  an 
inattentidh  to  the  works  of  that  extraordinary  man,  whose  genius, 
no  less  enterprising  than  universal,  has  attempted  almost  every 
different  species  of  literary  composition.  In  many  of  these  he 
excels.  In  all,  if  he  had  left  religion  untouched,  he  is  instructive 
and  agreeable.  But,  as  he  seldom  imitates  the  example  of  modern 
historians  in  citing  the  authors  from  whom  they  derived  their  in- 
formation, I  could  not  with  propriety  appeal  to  his  authority  in 
confirmation  of  any  doubtful  or  unknown  fact.  I  have  often, 
however,  followed  him  as  my  guide  in  these  researches;  and  he 
has  not  only  pointed  out  the  facts  with  respect  to  which  it  was  of 
importance  to  inquire,  but  the  conclusions  which  it  was  proper  to 
draw  from  them.  If  he  had  at  the  same  time  mentioned  the 
books  which  relate  these  particulars,  a  great  part  of  my  labor 
would  have  been  unnecessary,  and  many  of  his  readers  who  now 
consider  him  only  as  an  entertaining  and  lively  writer  would  find 
that  he  is  a  learned  and  well-informed  historian. 

As  to  the  other  omission,  every  intelligent  reader  must  have 
observed  that  I  have  not  entered,  either  in  the  historical  part  of 
this  volume  or  in  the  Proofs  and  Illustrations,  into  the  same  detail 
with  respect  to  the  ancient  laws  and  customs  of  the  British  king- 
doms as  concerning  those  of  the  other  European  nations.  As  the 
capital  facts  with  regard  to  the  progress  of  government  and  man- 
ners in  their  own  country  are  known  to  most  of  my  readers,  such 
a  detail  appeared  to  me  to  be  less  essential.  Such  facts  and  obser- 
vations, however,  as  were  necessary  towards  completing  my  design 
in  this  part  of  the  work,  I  have  mentioned  under  the  different 


PROOFS  AND   ILLUSTRATIONS.  367 

articles  which  are  the  subjects  of  my  disquisitions.  The  state  of 
government  in  all  the  nations  of  Europe  having  been  nearly  the 
same  during  several  ages,  nothing  can  tend  more  to  illustrate  the 
progress  of  the  English  constitution  than  a  careful  inquiry  into 
the  laws  and  customs  of  the  kingdoms  on  the  Continent.  This 
source  of  information  has  been  too  much  neglected  by  the  English 
antiquaries  and  lawyers.  Filled  with  admiration  of  that  happy 
constitution  now  established  in  Great  Britain,  they  have  been  more 
attentive  to  its  forms  and  principles  than  to  the  condition  and 
ideas  of  remote  times,  which  in  almost  every  particular  differ  from 
the  present.  While  engaged  in  perusing  the  laws,  charters,  and 
early  historians  of  the  Continental  kingdoms,  I  have  often  been 
led  to  think  that  an  attempt  to  illustrate  the  progress  of  English 
jurisprudence  and  policy  by  a  comparison  with  those  of  other 
kingdoms  in  a  similar  situation  would  be  of  great  utility,  and 
might  throw  much  light  on  some  points  which  are  now  obscure, 
and  decide  others  which  have  been  lone  controverted. 


HISTORY  OF  THE   REIGN 


EMPEROR   CHARLES   THE   FIFTH. 


(369) 


BOOK    I. 


Birth  of  Charles  V. — His  Hereditary  Dominions. — Philip  and  Joanna, 
his  Parents. — Birth  of  Ferdinand,  his  Brother. — Death  of  Isabella. 
— Philip's  Attempts  to  obtain  the  Government  of  Castile. — The 
Regent  Ferdinand  marries  a  Niece  of  the  French  King  to  exclude 
Philip  and  his  Daughter. — The  Castilian  Nobility  declare  for  Philip. 
— Philip  and  Joanna  proclaimed. — Death  of  Philip. — Incapacity  of 
Joanna. — Ferdinand  made  Regent. — His  Acquisition  of  Territory. 
— His  Death. — Education  of  Charles  V. — Cardinals  Ximenes  and 
Adrian. — Charles  acknowledged  King. — Ximenes  strengthens  the 
Royal  Power ;  is  opposed  by  the  Nobles. — War  in  Navarre  and  in 
Africa. — Peace  with  France. — Charles  visits  Spain. — His  Ingrati- 
tude towards  Ximenes. — Death  of  the  Latter. — Discontent  of  the 
Castilians. — Corruption  of  the  King's  Flemish  Favorites. —  Recep- 
tion of  Charles  in  Aragon. — Death  of  the  Emperor  Maximilian. — 
Charles  and  Francis  I.  Competitors  for  the  Empire. — Views  of  the 
other  Reigning  Potentates. — Assembly  of  the  Electors. — The  Crown 
offered  to  Frederic  of  Saxony. — He  declines  in  Favor  of  Charles, 
who  is  chosen. — Discontent  of  the  Spaniards. — Insurrection  in 
Valencia. — The  Cortes  of  Castile  summoned  to  meet  in  Galicia. — 
Charles  appoints  Regents,  and  embarks  for  the  Low  Countries. 

CHARLES  V.  was  born  at  Ghent  on  the  24th  day  of 
February,  in  the  year  1500.  His  father,  Philip  the 
Handsome,  archduke  of  Austria,  was  the  son  of  the 
emperor  Maximilian,  and  of  Mary,  the  only  child  of 
Charles  the  Bold,  the  last  prince  of  the  house  of  Bur- 
gundy. His  mother,  Joanna,  was  the  second  daughter 
of  Ferdinand,  king  of  Aragon,  and  of  Isabella,  queen 
of  Castile. 

(37O 


372 


REIGN  OF   THE 


A  long  train  of  fortunate  events  had  opened  the  way 
for  this  young  prince  to  the  inheritance  of  more  ex- 
tensive dominions  than  any  European  monarch  since 
Charlemagne  had  possessed.  Each  of  his  ancestors 
had  acquired  kingdoms  or  provinces  towards  which 
their  prospect  of  succession  was  extremely  remote. 
The  rich  possessions  of  Mary  of  Burgundy  had  been 
destined  for  another  family,  she  having  been  contracted 
by  her  father  to  the  only  son  of  Louis  XI.  of  France ; 
but  that  (Capricious  monarch,  indulging  his  hatred  to 
her  family,  chose  rather  to  strip  her  of  part  of  her  ter- 
ritories by  force  than  to  secure  the  whole  by  marriage ; 
and  by  this  misconduct,  fatal  to  his  posterity,  he  threw 
all  the  Netherlands  and  Franche-Comte  into  the  hands 
of  a  rival.  Isabella,  the  daughter  of  John  II.  of  Cas- 
tile, far  from  having  any  prospect  of  that  noble  inherit- 
ance which  she  transmitted  to  her  grandson,  passed 
the  early  part  of  her  life  in  obscurity  and  indigence. 
But  the  Castilians,  exasperated  against  her  brother, 
Henry  IV.,  an  ill-advised  and  vicious  prince,  publicly 
charged  him  with  impotence  and  his  queen  with 
adultery.  Upon  his  demise,  rejecting  Joanna,  whom 
Henry  had  uniformly,  and  even  on  his  death-bed, 
owned  to  be  his  lawful  daughter,  and  whom  an  as- 
sembly of  the  states  had  acknowledged  to  be  the  heir 
of  his  kingdom,  they  obliged  her  to  retire  into  Portu- 
gal and  placed  Isabella  on  the  throne  of  Castile.  Fer- 
dinand owed  the  crown  of  Aragon  to  the  unexpected 
death  of  his  elder  brother,  and  acquired  the  kingdoms 
of  Naples  and  Sicily  by  violating  the  faith  of  treaties 
and  disregarding  the  ties  of  blood.  To  all  these  king- 
doms Christopher  Columbus,  by  an  effort  of  genius 


EMPEROR    CHARLES    THE   FIFTH.  373 

and  of  intrepidity  the  boldest  and  most  successful  that 
is  recorded  in  the  annals  of  mankind,  added  a  new 
world,  the  wealth  of  which  became  one  considerable 
source  of  the  power  and  grandeur  of  the  Spanish  mon- 
archs. 

Don  John,  the  only  son  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella, 
and  their  eldest  daughter,  the  queen  of  Portugal,  being 
cut  off,  without  issue,  in  the  flower  of  youth,  all  their 
hopes  centred  in  Joanna  and  her  posterity.  But  as 
her  husband,  the  archduke,  was  a  stranger  to  the  Span- 
iards, it  was  thought  expedient  to  invite  him  into  Spain, 
that  by  residing  among  them  he  might  accustom  him- 
self to  their  laws  and  manners ;  and  it  was  expected 
that  the  cortes,  or  assembly  of  states,  whose  authority 
was  then  so  great  in  Spain  that  no  title  to  the  crown 
was  reckoned  valid  unless  it  received  their  sanction, 
would  acknowledge  his  right  of  succession,  together 
with  that  of  the  infanta,  his  wife.  Philip  and  Joanna, 
passing  through  France  in  their  way  to  Spain,  were 
entertained  in  that  kingdom  with  the  utmost  magnifi- 
cence. The  archduke  did  homage  to  Louis  XII.  for 
the  earldom  of  Flanders,  and  took  his  seat  as  a  peer 
of  the  realm  in  the  parliament  of  Paris.  They  were 
received  in  Spain  with  every  mark  of  honor  that  the 
parental  affection  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  or  the  re- 
spect of  their  subjects,  could  devise ;  and  their  title  to 
the  crown  was  soon  after  acknowledged  by  the  cortes 
of  both  kingdoms. 

But  amidst  these  outward  appearances  of  satisfaction 

and  joy  some  secret  uneasiness  preyed  upon  the  mind 

of  each  of  these  princes.     The  stately  and  reserved 

ceremonial  of  the  Spanish  court  was  so  burdensome  to 

Charles. — VOL.  I.  32 


374 


REIGN  OF  THE 


Philip,  a  prince  young,  gay,  affable,  fond  of  society 
and  of  pleasure,  that  he  soon  began  to  express  a  desire 
of  returning  to  his  native  country,  the  manners  of 
which  were  more  suited  to  his  temper.  Ferdinand, 
observing  the  declining  health  of  his  queen,  with 
whose  life  he  knew  that  his  right  to  the  government 
of  Castile  must  cease,  easily  foresaw  that  a  prince  of 
Philip's  disposition,  and  who  already  discovered  an 
extreme  impatience  to  reign,  would  never  consent  to 
his  retaining  any  degree  of  authority  in  that  kingdom ; 
and  the  prospect  of  this  diminution  of  his  power 
awakened  the  jealousy  of  that  ambitious  monarch. 

Isabella  beheld  with  the  sentiments  natural  to  a 
mother  the  indifference  and  neglect  with  which  the 
archduke  treated  her  daughter,  who  was  destitute  of 
those  beauties  of  person  as  well  as  those  accomplish- 
ments of  mind  which  fix  the  affections  of  a  husband. 
Her  understanding,  always  weak,  was  often  disordered. 
She  doted  on  Philip  with  such  an  excess  of  childish 
and  indiscreet  fondness  as  excited  disgust  rather  than 
affection.  Her  jealousy,  for  which  her 'husband's  be- 
havior gave  her  too  much  cause,  was  proportioned  to 
her  love,  and  often  broke  out  in  the  most  extravagant 
actions.  Isabella,  though  sensible  of  her  defects,  could 
not  help  pitying  her  condition,  which  was  soon  ren- 
dered altogether  deplorable  by  the  archduke's  abrupt 
resolution  of  setting  out  in  the  middle  of  winter  for 
Flanders  and  of  leaving  her  in  Spain.  Isabella  en- 
treated him  not  to  abandon  his  wife  to  grief  and  melan- 
choly, which  might  prove  fatal  to  her,  as  she  was  near 
the  time  of  her  delivery.  Joanna  conjured  him  to  put 
off  his  journey  for  three  days  only,  that  she  might  have 


EMPEROR   CHARLES   THE  FIFTH. 


375 


the  pleasure  of  celebrating  the  festival  of  Christmas  in 
his  company.  Ferdinand,  after  representing  the  im- 
prudence of  his  leaving  Spain  before  he  had  time  to 
become  acquainted  with  the  genius  or  to  gain  the 
affections  of  the  people  who  were  one  day  to  be  his 
subjects,  besought  him  at  least  not  to  pass  through 
France,  with  which  kingdom  he  was  then  at  open 
war.  Philip,  without  regarding  either  the  dictates  of 
humanity  or  the  maxims  of  prudence,  persisted  in 
his  purpose,  and  on  the  22d  of  December  set  out  for 
the  Low  Countries  by  the  way  of  France.1 

From  the  moment  of  his  departure,  Joanna  sunk  into 
a  deep  and  sullen  melancholy,2  and  while  she  was  in 
that  situation  bore  Ferdinand,  her  second  son,  for 
whom  the  power  of  his  brother  Charles  afterwards 
procured  the  kingdoms  of  Hungary  and  Bohemia,  and 
to  whom  he  at  last  transmitted  the  imperial  sceptre. 
Joanna  was  the  only  person  in  Spain  who  discovered 
no  joy  at  the  birth  of  this  prince.  Insensible  to  that, 
as  well  as  to  every  other  pleasure,  she  was  wholly  occu- 
pied with  the  thoughts  of  returning  to  her  husband ; 
nor  did  she  in  any  degree  recover  tranquillity  of  mind 
until  she  arrived  at  Brussels  next  year.3  [1504.] 

Philip,  in  passing  through  France,  had  an  interview 
with  Louis  XII.,  and  signed  a  treaty  with  him,  by 
which  he  hoped  that  all  the  differences  between  France 
and  Spain  would  have  been  finally  terminated.  But 
Ferdinand,  whose  affairs  at  that  time  were  extremely 
prosperous  in  Italy,  where  the  superior  genius  of  Gon- 

1  Petri  Martyris  Anglerii  Epistolse,  250,  253. 

3  Ibid.,  255. 

3  Mariana,  lib.  27,  c.  u,  14. — Flechier,  Vie  de  Ximen^s,  i.  191. 


376  REIGN  OF  THE 

salvo  de  Cordova,  the  great  captain,  triumphed  on  every 
occasion  over  the  arms  of  France,  did  not  pay  the  least 
regard  to  what  his  son-in-law  had  concluded,  and  car- 
ried on  hostilities  with  greater  ardor  than  ever. 

From  this  time  Philip  seems  not  to  have  taken  any 
part  in  the  affairs  of  Spain,  waiting  in  quiet  till  the 
death  either  of  Ferdinand  or  of  Isabella  should  open 
the  way  to  one  of  their  thrones.  The  latter  of  these 
events  was  not  far  distant.  The  untimely  death  of  her 
son  and  .eldest  daughter  had  made  a  deep  impression 
on  the  mind  of  Isabella ;  and  as  she  could  derive  but 
little  consolation  for  the  losses  which  she  had  sustained 
either  from  her  daughter  Joanna,  whose  infirmities 
daily  increased,  or  from  her  son-in-law,  who  no  longer 
preserved  even  the  appearance  of  a  decent  respect 
towards  that  -unhappy  princess,  her  spirits  and  health 
began  gradually  to  decline,  and,  after  languishing  some 
months,  she  died  at  Medina  del  Campo  on  the  26th  of 
November,  1504.  She  was  no  less  eminent  for  virtue 
than  for  wisdom ;  and,  whether  we  consider  her  be- 
havior as  a  queen,  as  a  wife,  or  as  a  mother,  she  is 
justly  entitled  to  the  high  encomiums  bestowed  upon 
her  by  the  Spanish  historians.4 

A  few  weeks  before  her  death,  she  made  her  last  will, 
and,  being  convinced  of  Joanna's  incapacity  to  assume 
the  reins  of  government  into  her  own  hands,  and 
having  no  inclination  to  commit  them  to  Philip,  with 
whose  conduct  she  was  extremely  dissatisfied,  she  ap- 
pointed Ferdinand  regent  or  administrator  of  the  affairs 
of  Castile  until  her  grandson  Charles  should  attain  the 
age  of  twenty.  She  bequeathed  to  Ferdinand  likewise 

4  P.  Martyr.  Ep.,  279. 


EMPEROR  CHARLES  THE  FIFTH. 


377 


one-half  of  the  revenues  which  should  arise  from  the 
Indies,  together  with  the  grand  masterships  of  the  three 
military  orders, — dignities  which  rendered  the  person 
who  possessed  them  almost  independent,  and  which 
Isabella  had  for  that  reason  annexed  to  the  crown.5 
But  before  she  signed  a  deed  so  favorable  to  Ferdinand 
she  obliged  him  to  swear  that  he  would  not,  by  a  second 
marriage,  or  by  any  other  means,  endeavor  to  deprive 
Joanna  or  her  posterity  of  their  right  of  succession  to 
any  of  his  kingdoms.6 

Immediately  upon  the  queen's  death,  Ferdinand  re- 
signed the  title  of  king  of  Castile,  and  issued  orders 
to  proclaim  Joanna  and  Philip  the  sovereigns  of  that 
kingdom.  But  at  the  same  time  he  assumed  the  charac- 
ter of  regent,  in  consequence  of  Isabella's  testament ; 
and  not  long  after,  he  prevailed  on  the  cortes  of  Castile 
to  acknowledge  his  right  to  that  office.  This,  however, 
he  did  not  procure  without  difficulty,  nor  without  dis- 
covering such  symptoms  of  alienation  and  disgust  among 
the  Castilians  as  filled  him  with  great  uneasiness.  The 
union  of  Castile  and  Aragon  for  almost  thirty  years  had 
not  so  entirely  extirpated  the  ancient  and  hereditary 
enmity  which  subsisted  between  the  natives  of  these 
kingdoms  that  the  Castilian  pride  could  submit  without 
murmuring  to  the  government  of  a  king  of  Aragon. 
Ferdinand's  own  character,  with  which  the  Castilians 
were  well  acquainted,  was  far  from  rendering  his  au- 
thority desirable.  Suspicious,  discerning,  severe,  and 
parsimonious,  he  was  accustomed  to  observe  the  most 

5  P.  Martyr.   Ep.,  277. — Mariana,  Hist.,  lib.  28,  c.  n. — Ferreras, 
Hist,  g^ner.  d'Espagne,  torn.  viii.  p.  263. 

6  Mariana,  Hist.,  lib.  28,  c.  14. 

32* 


378 


REIGN  OF  THE 


minute  actions  of  his  subjects  with  a  jealous  attention, 
and  to  reward  their  highest  services  with  little  liber- 
ality.; and  they  were  now  deprived  of  Isabella,  whose 
gentle  qualities,  and  partiality  to  her  Castilian  subjects, 
often  tempered  his  austerity  or  rendered  it  tolerable. 
The  maxims  of  his  government  were  especially  odious 
to  the  grandees ;  for  that  artful  prince,  sensible  of  the 
dangerous  privileges  conferred  upon  them  by  the  feudal 
institutions,  had  endeavored  to  curb  their  exorbitant 
power7  by  extending  the  royal  jurisdiction,  by  pro- 
tecting their  injured  vassals,  by  increasing  the  immuni- 
ties of  cities,  and  by  other  measures  equally  prudent. 
From  all  these  causes  a  formidable  party  among  the 
Castilians  united  against  Ferdinand,  and,  though  the 
persons  who  composed  it  had  not  hitherto  taken  any 
public  step  in  opposition  to  him,  he  plainly  saw  that 
upon  the  least  encouragement  from  their  new  king  they 
would  proceed  to  the  most  violent  extremities. 

There  was  no  less  agitation  in  the  Netherlands  upon 
receiving  the  accounts  of  Isabella's  death  and  of  Fer- 
dinand's having  assumed  the  government  of  Castile. 
Philip  was  not  of  a  temper  tamely  to  suffer  himself  to 
be  supplanted  by  the  ambition  of  his  father-in-law.  If 
Joanna's  infirmities  and  the  nonage  of  Charles  rendered 
them  incapable  of  government,  he,  as  a  husband,  was 
the  proper  guardian  of  his  wife,  and,  as  a  father,  the 
natural  tutor  of  his  son.  Nor  was  it  sufficient  to  oppose 
to  these  just  rights,  and  to  the  inclination  of  the  people 
of  Castile,  the  authority  of  a  testament  the  genuineness 
of  which  was  perhaps  doubtful,  and  its  contents  to  him 
appeared  certainly  to  be  iniquitous.  A  keener  edge 

7  Mariana,  Hist.,  lib.  28,  c.  12. 


EMPEROR  CHARLES  THE  FIFTH. 


379 


was  added  to  Philip's  resentment,  and  new  vigor  in- 
fused into  his  councils,  by  the  arrival  of  Don  John 
Manuel.  He  was  Ferdinand's  ambassador  at  the  im- 
perial court,  but  upon  the  first  notice  of  Isabella's  death 
repaired  to  Brussels,  flattering  himself  that  under  a 
young  and  liberal  prince  he  might  attain  to  power  and 
honors  which  he  could  never  have  expected  in  the 
service  of  an  old  and  frugal  master.  He  had  early 
paid  court  to  Philip,  during  his  residence  in  Spain, 
with  such  assiduity  as  entirely  gained  his  confidence, 
and,  having  been  trained  to  business  under  Ferdinand, 
could  oppose  his  schemes  with  equal  abilities,  and  with 
arts  not  inferior  to  those  for  which  that  monarch  was 
distinguished.8 

By  the  advice  of  Manuel,  ambassadors  were  de- 
spatched to  require  Ferdinand  to  retire  into  Aragon, 
and  to  resign  the  government  of  Castile  to  those  per- 
sons whom  Philip  should  intrust  with  it  until  his  own 
arrival  in  that  kingdom.  Such  of  the  Castilian  nobles 
as  had  discovered  any  dissatisfaction  with  Ferdinand's 
administration  were  encouraged  by  every  method  to 
oppose  it.  At  the  same  time  a  treaty  was  concluded 
with  Louis  XII.,  by  which  Philip  flattered  himself  that 
he  had  secured  the  friendship  and  assistance  of  that 
monarch. 

Meanwhile,  Ferdinand  employed  all  the  arts  of  ad- 
dress and  policy  in  order  to  retain  the  power  of  which 
he  had  got  possession.  By  means  of  Conchillos,  an 
Aragonian  gentleman,  he  entered  into  a  private  ne- 
gotiation with  Joanna,  and  prevailed  on  that  weak 
princess  to  confirm,  by  her  authority,  his  right  to  the 

8  Zurita,  Anales  de  Aragon,  torn.  vi.  p.  12. 


380  REIGN  OF  THE 

regency.  But  this  intrigue  did  not  escape  the  pene- 
trating eye  of  Don  John  Manuel :  Joanna's  letter  of 
consent  was  intercepted,  Conchillos  was  thrown  into  a 
dungeon,  she  herself  confined  to  an  apartment  in  the 
palace,  and  all  her  Spanish  domestics  secluded  from  her 
presence.9 

The  mortification  which  the  discovery  of  this  intrigue 
occasioned  to  Ferdinand  was  much  increased  by  his 
observing  the  progress  which  Philip's  emissaries  made 
in  Castile.  Some  of  the  nobles  retired  to  their  castles ; 
others  to  the  towns  in  which  they  had  influence ;  they 
formed  themselves  into  confederacies  and  began  to 
assemble  their  vassals.  Ferdinand's  court  was  almost 
totally  deserted, — not  a  person  of  distinction  but  Xime- 
nes,  archbishop  of  Toledo,  the  duke  of  Alva,  and  the 
marquis  of  Denia,  remaining  there ;  while  the  houses 
of  Philip's  ambassadors  were  daily  crowded  with  noble- 
men of  the  highest  rank. 

Exasperated  at  this  universal  defection,  and  morti- 
fied, perhaps,  with  seeing  all  his  schemes  defeated  by 
a  younger  politician,  Ferdinand  resolved,  in  defiance 
of  the  law  of  nature  and  of  decency,  to  deprive  his 
daughter  and  her  posterity  of  the  crown  of  Castile, 
rather  than  renounce  the  regency  of  that  kingdom. 
His  plan  for  accomplishing  this  was  no  less  bold  than 
the  intention  itself  was  wicked.  He  demanded  in 
marriage  Joanna,  the  supposed  daughter  of  Henry  IV., 
on  the  belief  of  whose  illegitimacy  Isabella's  right  to 
the  crown  of  Castile  was  founded  ;  and  by  reviving  the 
claim  of  this  princess,  in  opposition  to  which  he  him- 
self had  formerly  led  armies  and  fought  battles,  he 

9  P.  Martyr.  Ep.,  287. — Zurita,  Anales,  vi.  14. 


EMPEROR    CHARLES   THE   FIFTH.  381 

hoped  once  more  to  get  possession  of  the  throne  of 
that  kingdom.  But  Emantiel,  king  of  Portugal,  in 
whose  dominions  Joanna  resided  at  that  time,  having 
married  one  of  Ferdinand's  daughters  by  Isabella,  re- 
fused his  consent  to  that  unnatural  match ;  and  the 
unhappy  princess  herself,  having  lost  all  relish  for  the 
objects  of  ambition  by  being  long  immured  in  a  con- 
vent, discovered  no  less  aversion  to  it.10 

The  resources,  however,  of  Ferdinand's  ambition 
were  not  exhausted.  Upon  meeting  with  a  repulse  in 
Portugal,  he  turned  towards  France,  and  sought  in 
marriage  Germaine  de  Foix,  a  daughter  of  the  viscount 
of  Narbonne,  and  of  Mary,  the  sister  of  Louis  XII. 
The  war  which  that  monarch  had  carried  on  against 
Ferdinand  in  Naples  had  been  so  unfortunate  that  he 
listened  with  joy  to  a  proposal  which  furnished  him 
with  an  honorable  pretence  for  concluding  peace ;  and 
though  no  prince  was  ever  more  remarkable  than  Ferdi- 
nand for  making  all  his  passions  bend  to  the  maxims  of 
interest  or  become  subservient  to  the  purposes  of  am- 
bition, yet  so  vehement  was  his  resentment  against  his 
son-in-law  that  the  desire  of  gratifying  it  rendered 
him  regardless  of  every  other  consideration.  In  order 
to  be  revenged  of  Philip  by  detaching  Louis  from  his 
interest,  and  in  order  to  gain  a  chance  of  excluding 
him  from  his  hereditary  throne  of  Aragon  and  the 
dominions  annexed  to  it,  he  was  ready  once  more  to 
divide  Spain  into  separate  kingdoms,  though  the  union 
of  these  was  the  great  glory  of  his  reign  and  had  been 
the  chief  object  of  his  ambition ;  he  consented  to 

10  Sandoval,  Hist,  of  Civil  Wars  in  Castile,  Lond.,  1655,  p.  5. — 
Zurita,  Anales  de  Aragon,  vi.  213. 


382  REIGN  OF   THE 

restore  the  Neapolitan  nobles  of  the  French  faction 
to  their  possessions  and  honors,  and  submitted  to  the 
ridicule  of  marrying,  in  an  advanced  age,  a  princess 
of  eighteen." 

The  conclusion  of  this  match,  which  deprived  Philip 
of  his  only  ally  and  threatened  him  with  the  loss  of  so 
many  kingdoms,  gave  him  a  dreadful  alarm,  and  con- 
vinced Don  John  Manuel  that  there  was  now  a  necessity 
of  taking  other  measures  with  regard  to  the  affairs  of 
Spain.12  He  accordingly  instructed  the  Flemish  am- 
bassadors'in  the  court  of  Spain  to  testify  the  strong 
desire  which  their  master  had  of  terminating  all  differ- 
ences between  him  and  Ferdinand  in  an  amicable  man- 
ner, and  his  willingness  to  consent  to  any  conditions 
that  would  re-establish  the  friendship  which  ought  to 
subsist  between  a  father  and  a  son-in-law.  Ferdinand, 
though  he  had  made  and  broken  more  treaties  than  any 
prince  of  any  age,  was  apt  to  confide  so  far  in  the  sin- 
cerity of  other  men,  or  to  depend  so  much  upon  his 
own  address  and  their  weakness,  as  to  be  always  ex- 
tremely fond  of  a  negotiation.  He  listened  with  eager- 
ness to  the  declarations,  and  soon  concluded  a  treaty 
at  Salamanca,  in  which  it  was  stipulated  that  the  gov- 
ernment of  Castile  should  be  carried  on  in  the  joint 
names  of  Joanna,  of  Ferdinand,  and  of  Philip,  and 
that  the  revenues  of  the  crown,  as  well  as  the  right  of 
conferring  offices,  should  be  shared  between  Ferdinand 
and  Philip  by  an  equal  division.13 

Nothing,  however,  was  farther  from  Philip's  thoughts 

11  P.  Martyr.  Ep.,  290,  292. — Mariana,  lib.  28,  c.  16,  17. 

M  P.  Martyr.  Ep.,  293. 

'3  Zurita,  Anales  de  Aragon,  vi.  19. — P.  Martyr.  Ep.,  293,  294. 


EMPEROR   CHARLES   THE  FIFTH.  383 

than  to  observe  this  treaty.  His  sole  intention  in  pro- 
posing it  was  to  amuse  Ferdinand  and  to  prevent  him 
from  taking  any  measures  for  obstructing  his  voyage 
into  Spain.  It  had  that  effect.  Ferdinand,  sagacious 
as  he  was,  did  not  for  some  time  suspect  his  design ; 
and  though,  when  he  perceived  it,  he  prevailed  on  the 
king  of  France  not  only  to  remonstrate  against  the 
archduke's  journey,  but  to  threaten  hostilities  if  he 
should  undertake  it, — though  he  solicited  the  duke  of 
Gueldres  to  attack  his  son-in-law's  dominions  in  the 
Low  Countries, — Philip  and  his  consort  nevertheless 
set  sail  with  a  numerous  fleet  and  a  good  body  of  land- 
forces.  They  were  obliged  by  a  violent  tempest  to 
take  shelter  in  England,  where  Henry  VII. ,  in  com- 
pliance with  Ferdinand's  solicitations,  detained  them 
upwards  of  three  months  : I4  at  last  they  were  permitted 
to  depart,  and,  after  a  more  prosperous  voyage,  they 
arrived  in  safety  at  Corunna  in  Galicia,  nor  durst  Fer- 
dinand attempt,  as  he  once  intended,  to  oppose  their 
landing  by  force  of  arms.  [1506.] 

The  Castilian  nobles,  who  had  been  obliged  hitherto 
to  conceal  or  to  dissemble  their  sentiments,  now  de- 
clared openly  in  favor  of  Philip.  From  every  corner 
of  the  kingdom,  persons  of  the  highest  rank,  with 
numerous  retinues  of  their  vassals,  repaired  to  their 
new  sovereign.  The  treaty  of  Salamanca  was  univer- 
sally condemned,  and  all  agreed  to  exclude  from  the 
government  of  Castile  a  prince  who,  by  consenting  to 
disjoin  Aragon  and  Naples  from  that  crown,  discovered 
so  little  concern  for  its  true  interests.  Ferdinand, 
meanwhile,  abandoned  by  almost  all  the  Castilians, 

u  Ferreras,  Hist.,  viii.  285. 


384  REIGN  OF   THE 

disconcerted  by  their  revolt,  and  uncertain  whether  he 
should  peaceably  relinquish  his  power  or  take  arms  in 
order  to  maintain  it,  earnestly  solicited  an  interview  with 
his  son-in-law,  who,  by  the  advice  of  Manuel,  studiously 
avoided  it.  Convinced  at  last,  by  seeing  the  number 
and  zeal  of  Philip's  adherents  daily  increase,  that  it 
was  vain  to  think  of  resisting  such  a  torrent,  Ferdi- 
nand consented,  by  treaty,  to  resign  the  regency  of 
Castile  into  the  hands  of  Philip,  to  retire  into  his 
hereditary  dominions  of  Aragon,  and  to  rest  satisfied 
with  the  "masterships  of  the  military  orders,  and  that 
share  of  the  revenue  of  the  Indies  which  Isabella  had 
bequeathed  to  him.  Though  an  interview  between  the 
princes  was  no  longer  necessary,  it  was  agreed  to  on 
both  sides  from  motives  of  decency.  Philip  repaired 
to  the  place  appointed  with  a  splendid  retinue  of  Cas- 
tilian  nobles  and  a  considerable  body  of  armed  men. 
Ferdinand  appeared  without  any  pomp,  attended  by  a 
few  followers  mounted  on  mules,  and  unarmed.  On 
that  occasion  Don  John  Manuel  had  the  pleasure  of 
displaying  before  the  monarch  whom  he  had  deserted 
the  extensive  influence  which  he  had  acquired  over 
his  new  master ;  while  Ferdinand  suffered,  in  presence 
of  his  former  subjects,  the  two  most  cruel  mortifica- 
tions which  an  artful  and  ambitious  prince  can  feel, — 
being  at  once  overreached  in  conduct  and  stripped  of 
power.15 

Not  long  after,  he  retired  into  Aragon ;  and,  hoping 
that  some  favorable  accident  would  soon  open  the  way 
to  his  return  into  Castile,  he  took  care  to  protest, 

*s  Zurita,  Anales  de  Aragon,  vi.  64. — Mariana,  lib.  28,  c.  19,  20.— 
P.  Martyr.  Ep.,  304,  305,  etc. 


EMPEROR    CHARLES   THE  FIF7W.  385 

though  with  great  secrecy,  that  the  treaty  concluded 
with  his  son-in-law,  being  extorted  by  force,  ought  to 
be  deemed  void  of  all  obligation.16 

Philip  took  possession  of  his  new  authority  with  a 
youthful  joy.  The  unhappy  Joanna,  from  whom  he 
derived  it,  remained,  during  all  these  contests,  under 
the  dominion  of  a  deep  melancholy ;  she  was  seldom 
allowed  to  appear  in  public ;  her  father,  though  he  had 
often  desired  it,  was  refused  access  to  her ;  and  Philip's 
chief  object  was  to  prevail  on  the  cortes  to  declare  her 
incapable  of  government,  that  an  undivided  power 
might  be  lodged  in  his  hands  until  his  son  should  attain 
to  full  age.  But  such  was  the  partial  attachment  of 
the  Castilians  to  their  native  princess  that,  though 
Manuel  had  the  address  to  gain  some  members  of  the 
cortes  assembled  at  Valladolid,  and  others  were  willing 
to  gratify  their  new  sovereign  in  his  first  request,  the 
great  body  of  the  representatives  refused  their  consent 
to  a  declaration  which  they  thought  so  injurious  to  the 
blood  of  their  monarchs.17  They  were  unanimous, 
however,  in  acknowledging  Joanna  and  Philip  queen 
and  king  of  Castile,  and  their  son  Charles  prince  of 
Asturias. 

This  was  almost  the  only  memorable  event  during 
Philip's  administration.  A  fever  put  an  end  to  his  life 
in  the  twenty-eighth  year  of  his  age,  when  he  had  not 
enjoyed  the  regal  dignity,  which  he  had  been  so  eager 
to  obtain,  full  three  months.18 

The  whole  royal  authority  in  Castile  ought,  of  course, 

16  Zurita,  Anales  de  Aragon,  vi.  68. — Ferreras,  Hist.,  viii.  290. 
>7  Zurita,  Anales  de  Aragon,  vi.  75. 
18  Mariana,  lib.  28,  c.  23.     [1506.] 
Charles. — VOL.  I. — R  33 


386  REIGN  OF  THE 

to  have  devolved  upon  Joanna.  But  the  shock  occa- 
sioned by  a  disaster  so  unexpected  as  the  death  of  her 
husband  completed  the  disorder  of  her  understanding 
and  her  incapacity  for  government.  During  all  the 
time  of  Philip's  sickness,  no  entreaty  could  prevail  on 
her,  though  in  the  sixth  month  of  her  pregnancy,  to 
leave  him  for  a  moment.  When  he  expired,  however, 
she  did  not  shed  one  tear  or  utter  a  single  groan.  Her 
grief  was  silent  and  settled.  She  continued  to  watch 
the  dead^body  with  the  same  tenderness  and  attention 
as  if  it  had  been  alive,19  and,  though  at  last  she  per- 
mitted it  to  be  buried,  she  soon  removed  it  from  the 
tomb  to  her  own  apartment.  There  it  was  laid  upon  a 
bed  of  state,  in  a  splendid  dress ;  and,  having  heard 
from  some  monk  a  legendary  tale  of  a  king  who  revived 
after  he  had  been  dead  fourteen  years,  she  kept  her 
eyes  almost  constantly  fixed  on  the  body,  waiting  for 
the  happy  moment  of  its  return  to  life.  Nor  was  this 
capricious  affection  for  her  dead  husband  less  tinctured 
with  jealousy  than  that  which  she  had  borne  to  him 
when  alive.  She  did  not  permit  any  of  her  female 
attendants  to  approach  the  bed  on  which  his  corpse 
was  laid;  she  would  not  suffer  any  woman  who  did 
not  belong  to  her  family  to  enter  the  apartment ;  and, 
rather  than  grant  that  privilege  to  a  midwife,  though  a 
very  aged  one  had  been  chosen  on  purpose,  she  bore 
the  princess  Catharine  without  any  other  assistance 
than  that  of  her  own  domestics.80 

A  woman  in  such  a  state  of  mind  was  little  capable 

«9  P.  Martyr.  Ep.,  316. 

30  Mariana,  Hist.,  lib.  29,  c.  3,  5. — P.  Martyr.  Ep.,  318,  324,  328, 
332- 


EMPEROR   CHARLES   THE  FIFTH.  387 

of  governing  a  great  kingdom ;  and  Joanna,  who  made 
it  her  sole  employment  to  bewail  the  loss  and  to  pray 
for  the  soul  of  her  husband,  would  have  thought  her 
attention  to  public  affairs  an  impious  neglect  of  those 
duties  which  she  owed  to  him.  But  though  she  de- 
clined assuming  the  administration  herself,  yet,  by  a 
strange  caprice  of  jealousy,  she  refused  to  commit  it 
to  any  other  person ;  and  no  entreaty  of  her  subjects 
could  persuade  her  to  name  a  regent,  or  even  to  sign 
such  papers  as  were  necessary  for  the  execution  of  jus- 
tice and  the  security  of  the  kingdom. 

The  death  of  Philip  threw  the  Castilians  into  the 
greatest  perplexity.  It  was  necessary  to  appoint  a 
regent,  both  on  account  of  Joanna's  frenzy  and  the 
infancy  of  her  son ;  and  as  there  was  not  among  the 
nobles  any  person  so  eminently  distinguished,  either 
by  superiority  in  rank  or  abilities,  as  to  be  called  by 
the  public  voice  to  that  high  office,  all  naturally  turned 
their  eyes  either  towards  Ferdinand  or  towards  the 
emperor  Maximilian.  The  former  claimed  that  dignity 
as  administrator  for  his  daughter,  and  by  virtue  of  the 
testament  of  Isabella;  the  latter  thought  himself  the 
legal  guardian  of  his  grandson,  whom,  on  account  of 
his  mother's  infirmities,  he  already  considered  as  king 
of  Castile.  Such  of  the  nobility  as  had  lately  been 
most  active  in  compelling  Ferdinand  to  resign  the 
government  of  the  kingdom  trembled  at  the  thoughts 
of  his  being  restored  so  soon  to  his  former  dignity. 
They  dreaded  the  return  of  a  monarch  not  apt  to  for- 
give, and  who  to  those  defects  with  which  they  were 
already  acquainted  added  that  resentment  which  the 
remembrance  of  their  behavior,  and  reflection  upon 


388  REIGN  OF  THE 

his  own  disgrace,  must  naturally  have  excited.  Though 
none  of  these  objections  lay  against  Maximilian,  he 
was  a  stranger  to  the  laws  and  manners  of  Castile ;  he 
had  not  either  troops  or  money  to  support  his  preten- 
sions, nor  could  his  claim  be  admitted  without  a  public 
declaration  of  Joanna's  incapacity  for  government,  an 
indignity  to  which,  notwithstanding  the  notoriety  of 
her  distemper,  the  delicacy  of  the  Castilians  could  not 
bear  the  thoughts  of  subjecting  her. 

Don  John  Manuel,  however,  and  a  few  of  the  nobles 
who  considered  themselves  most  obnoxious  to  Ferdi- 
nand's displeasure,  declared  for  Maximilian,  and  offered 
to  support  his  claim  with  all  their  interest.  Maximilian, 
always  enterprising  and  decisive  in  council,  though 
feeble  and  dilatory  in  execution,  eagerly  embraced  the 
offer.  But  a  series  of  ineffectual  negotiations  was  the 
only  consequence  of  this  transaction.  The  emperor, 
as  usual,  asserted  his  right  in  a  high  strain,  promised  a 
great  deal,  and  performed  nothing.21 

A  few  days  before  the  death  of  Philip,  Ferdinand 
had  set  out  for  Naples,  that  by  his  own  presence  he 
might  put  an  end  with  greater  decency  to  the  vice- 
royalty  of  the  Great  Captain,  whose  important  services 
and  cautious  conduct  did  not  screen  him  from  the  sus- 
picions of  his  jealous  master.  Though  an  account  of 
his  son-in-law's  death  reached  him  at  Porto-fino,  in  the 
territories  of  Genoa,  he  was  so  solicitous  to  discover 
the  secret  intrigues  which  he  supposed  the  Great  Cap- 
tain to  have  been  carrying  on,  and  to  establish  his  own 
authority  on  a  firm  foundation  in  the  Neapolitan  do- 
minions by  removing  him  from  the  supreme  command 
21  Mariaua,  lib.  29,  c.  7. — Zurita,  Anales  de  Aragon,  vi.  93. 


EMPEROR   CHARLES   THE  FIFTH.  389 

there,  that  rather  than  discontinue  his  voyage  he  chose 
to  leave  Castile  in  a  state  of  anarchy,  and  even  to  risk 
by  this  delay  his  obtaining  possession  of  the  govern- 
ment of  that  kingdom.22 

Nothing  but  the  great  abilities  and  prudent  conduct 
of  his  adherents  could  have  prevented  the  bad  effects 
of  this  absence.  At  the  head  of  these  was  Ximenes, 
archbishop  of  Toledo,  who,  though  he  had  been  raised 
to  that  dignity  by  Isabella  contrary  to  the  inclination 
of  Ferdinand,  and  though  he  could  have  no  expectation 
of  enjoying  much  power  under  the  administration  of  a 
master  little  disposed  to  distinguish  him  by  extraordi- 
nary marks  of  attention,  was  nevertheless  so  disinter- 
ested as  to  prefer  the  welfare  of  his  country  before  his 
own  grandeur,  and  to  declare  that  Castile  could  never 
be  so  happily  governed  as  by  a  prince  whom  long 
experience  had  rendered  thoroughly  acquainted  with 
its  true  interest.  The  zeal  of  Ximenes  to  bring  over 
his  countrymen  to  this  opinion  induced  him  to  lay 
aside  somewhat  of  his  usual  austerity  and  haughtiness. 
He  condescended  on  this  occasion  to  court  the  disaf- 
fected nobles,  and  employed  address,  as  well  as  argu- 
ments, to  persuade  them.  Ferdinand  seconded  his 
endeavors  with  great  art ;  and  by  concessions  to  some 
of  the  grandees,  by  promises  to  others,  and  by  letters 
full  of  complaisance  to  all,  he  gained  many  of  his  most 
violent  opponents.23  Though  many  cabals  were  formed, 
and  some  commotions  were  excited,  yet  when  Ferdi- 
nand, after  having  settled  the  affairs  of  Naples,  arrived 
in  Castile,  he  entered  upon  the  administration  without 

33  Zurita,  Anales  de  Aragon,  vi.  85. 
*3  Ibid.,  vi.  87,  94,  109. 
33* 


39° 


REIGN  OF  THE 


opposition.  The  prudence  with  which  he  exercised  his 
authority  in  that  kingdom  equalled  the  good  fortune  by 
which  he  had  recovered  it.  By  a  moderate  but  steady 
administration,  free  from  partiality  and  from  resent- 
ment, he  entirely  reconciled  the  Castilians  to  his  per- 
son, and  secured  to  them,  during  the  remainder  of  his 
life,  as  much  domestic  tranquillity  as  was  consistent 
with  the  genius  of  the  feudal  government,  which  still 
subsisted  among  them  in  full  vigor.24 

Nor  was.  the  preservation  of  tranquillity  in  his  heredi- 
tary kingdoms  the  only  obligation  which  the  Archduke 
Charles  owed  to  the  wise  regency  of  his  grandfather. 
It  was  his  good  fortune,  during  that  period,  to  have 
very  important  additions  made  to  the  dominions  over 
which  he  was  to  reign.  On  the  coast  of  Barbary, 
Oran,  and  other  conquests  of  no  small  value,  were 
annexed  to  the  crown  of  Castile  by  Cardinal  Ximenes, 
who,  with  a  spirit  very  uncommon  in  a  monk,  led  in 
person  a  numerous  army  against  the  Moors  of  that 
country,  and,  with  a  generosity  and  magnificence  still 
more  singular,  defrayed  the  whole  expense  of  the  expe- 
dition out  of  his  own  revenues.25  In  Europe,  Ferdinand, 
under  pretences  no  less  frivolous  than  unjust,  as  well  as 
by  artifices  the  most  shameful  and  treacherous,  expelled 
John  d'Albret,  the  lawful  sovereign,  from  the  throne  of 
Navarre,  and,  seizing  that  kingdom,  extended  the  limits 
of  the  Spanish  monarchy  from  the  Pyrenees  on  the  one 
hand  to  the  frontiers  of  Portugal  on  the  other.26 

It  was  not,  however,  the  desire  of  aggrandizing  the 
archduke  which  influenced  Ferdinand  in  this  or  in  any 

2*  Mariana,  lib.  29,  c.  10.  zs  Ibid.,  lib.  29,  c.  18. 

26  Ibid.,  lib.  30,  c.  ii,  12,  18,  24. 


EMPEROR  CHARLES  THE  FIFTH. 


391 


other  of  his  actions.  He  was  more  apt  to  consider  that 
young  prince  as  a  rival  who  might  one  day  wrest  out  of 
his  hands  the  government  of  Castile,  than  as  a  grandson 
for  whose  interest  he  was  intrusted  with  the  adminis- 
tration. This  jealousy  soon  begot  aversion,  and  even 
hatred,  the  symptoms  of  which  he  was  at  no  pains  to 
conceal.  Hence  proceeded  his  immoderate  joy  when 
his  young  queen  was  delivered  of  a  son,  whose  life 
would  have  deprived  Charles  of  the  crowns  of  Aragon, 
Naples,  Sicily,  and  Sardinia;  and  upon  the  untimely 
death  of  that  prince  he  discovered,  for  the  same  reason, 
an  excessive  solicitude  to  have  other  children.  This 
impatience  hastened,  in  all  probability,  the  accession 
of  Charles  to  the  crown  of  Spain.  Ferdinand,  in 
order  to  procure  a  blessing  of  which,  from  his  advanced 
age  and  the  intemperance  of  his  youth,  he  could  have 
little  prospect,  had  recourse  to  his  physicians,  and  by 
their  prescription  took  one  of  those  potions  which  are 
supposed  to  add  vigor  to  the  constitution,  though  they 
more  frequently  prove  fatal  to  it.  This  was  its  effect 
on  a  frame  so  feeble  and  exhausted  as  that  of  Ferdi- 
nand ;  for  though  he  survived  a  violent  disorder  which 
it  at  first  occasioned,  it  brought  on  such  an  habitual 
languor  and  dejection  of  mind  as  rendered  him  averse 
from  any  serious  attention  to  public  affairs,  and  fond 
of  frivolous  amusements,  on  which  he  had  not  hitherto 
bestowed  much  time.27  Though  he  now  despaired  of 
having  any  son  of  his  own,  his  jealousy  of  the  archduke 
did  not  abate,  nor  could  he  help  viewing  him  with  that 
aversion  which  princes  often  bear  to  their  successors.  In 

"7  Znrita,  Anales  de  Aragon,  vi.  347. — P.  Martyr.  Ep.,  531. — Ar- 
gensola,  Anales  de  Aragon,  lib.  i.  p.  4. 


392 


REIGN  OF   THE 


order  to  gratify  this  unnatural  passion,  he  made  a  will 
appointing  Prince  Ferdinand,  who,  having  been  bom 
and  educated  in  Spain,  was  much  beloved  by  the  Span- 
iards, to  be  regent  of  all  his  kingdoms  until  the  arrival 
of  the  archduke  his  brother ;  and  by  the  same  deed  he 
settled  upon  him  the  grand-mastership  of  the  three 
military  orders.  The  former  of  these  grants  might 
have  put  it  in  the  power  of  the  young  prince  to  have 
disputed  the  throne  with  his  brother ;  the  latter  would, 
in  any  event,  have  rendered  him  almost  independent 
of  him. 

Ferdinand  retained  to  the  last  that  jealous  love  of 
power  which  was  so  remarkable  through  his  whole  life. 
Unwilling,  even  at  the  approach  of  death,  to  admit  a 
thought  of  relinquishing  any  portion  of  his  authority, 
he  removed  continually  from  place  to  place,  in  order 
to  fly  from  his  distemper,  or  to  forget  it.  Though  his 
strength  declined  every  day,  none  of  his  attendants 
durst  mention  his  condition ;  nor  would  he  admit  his 
father-confessor,  who  thought  such  silence  criminal 
and  unchristian,  into  his  presence.  At  last  the  danger 
became  so  imminent  that  it  could  be  no  longer  con- 
cealed. Ferdinand  received  the  intimation  with  a 
decent  fortitude;  and,  touched,  perhaps,  with  com- 
punction at  the  injustice  which  he  had  done  his 
grandson,  or  influenced  by  the  honest  remonstrances 
of  Carvajal,  Zapara,  and  Vargas,  his  most  ancient  and 
faithful  councillors,  who  represented  to  him  that  by 
investing  Prince  Ferdinand  with  the  regency  he  would 
infallibly  entail  a  civil  war  on  the  two  brothers,  and  by 
bestowing  on  him  the  grand-mastership  of  the  military 
orders  would  strip  the  crown  of  its  noblest  ornament 


EMPEROR  CHARLES  THE  FIFTH. 


393 


and  chief  strength,  he  consented  to  alter  his  will  with 
respect  to  both  these  particulars.  By  a  new  deed  he 
left  Charles  the  sole  heir  of  all  his  dominions,  and 
allotted  to  Prince  Ferdinand,  instead  of  that  throne 
of  which  he  thought  himself  almost  secure,  an  incon- 
siderable establishment  of  fifty  thousand  ducats  a 
year.28  He  died  a  few  hours  after  signing  this  will, 
on  the  23d  day  of  January,  1516. 

Charles,  to  whom  such  a  noble  inheritance  descended 
by  his  death,  was  near  the  full  age  of  sixteen.  He  had 
hitherto  resided  in  the  Low  Countries,  his  paternal 
dominions.  Margaret  of  Austria,'his  aunt,  and  Mar- 
garet of  York,  the  sister  of  Edward  IV.  of  England 
and  widow  of  Charles  the  Bold,  two  princesses  of  great 
virtue  and  abilities,  had  the  care  of  forming  his  early 
youth.  Upon  the  death  of  his  father  the  Flemings 
committed  the  government  of  the  Low  Countries  to 
his  grandfather,  the  emperor  Maximilian,  with  the 
name  rather  than  the  authority  of  regent.29  Maximil- 
ian made  choice  of  William  de  Croy,  lord  of  Chievres, 
to  superintend  the  education  of  the  young  prince  his 
grandson.30  That  nobleman  possessed  in  an  eminent 

28  Mariana,  Hist.,  lib.  30,  c.  ult. — Zurita,  Anales  de  Aragon,  vi. 
401. — P.  Martyr.  Ep.,  565,  566. — Argensola,  Anales  de  Aragon,  lib. 
i.  p.  n. 

^  Pontius  Heuterus,  Rerum  Austriacarum  Lib.  XV.,  Lov.,  1649, 
lib.  vii.  c.  2,  p.  155. 

3°  The  French  historians,  upon  the  authority  of  M.  de    Bellay, 

Memoires,  p.  n,  have  unanimously  asserted  that,  Philip  by  his  last 

will  having  appointed  the  king  of  France  to  have  the  direction  of  his 

son's  education,  Louis  XII.,  with  a  disinterestedness  suitable  to  the 

.  confidence  reposed  in  him,  named  Chievres  for  that  office.    Even  the 

President  Henault  has  adopted  this  opinion.     (Abrege  Chron.,  A.D. 

1507.)     Varillas,  in  his  usual  manner,  pretends  to  have  seen  Philip's 

R* 


394  REIGN  OF  THE 

degree  the  talents  which  fitted  him  for  such  an  im- 
portant office,  and  discharged  the  duties  of  it  with 
great  fidelity.  Under  Chievres,  Adrian  of  Utrecht 
acted  as  preceptor.  This  preferment,  which  opened 
his  way  to  the  highest  dignities  an  ecclesiastic  can 

testament.  (Pract.  de  1'Education  des  Princes,  p.  16.)  But  the 
Spanish,  German,  and  Flemish  historians  concur  in  contradicting  this 
assertion  of  the  French  authors.  It  appears  from  Heuterus,  a  con- 
temporary Flemish  historian  of  great  authority,  that  Louis  XII.,  by 
consenting  to  the  marriage  of  Germaine  de  Foix  with  Ferdinand,  had 
lost  much  oklhat  confidence  which  Philip  once  placed  in  him;  that 
his  disgust  was  increased  by  the  French  king's  giving  in  marriage  to 
the  count  of  Angouleme  his  eldest  daughter,  whom  he  had  formerly 
betrothed  to  Charles  (Heuter.,  Rer.  Austr.,  lib.  v.  p.  151) ;  that  the 
French,  a  short  time  before  Philip's  death,  had  violated  the  peace 
which  subsisted  between  them  and  the  Flemings,  and  Philip  had 
complained  of  this  injury  and  was  ready  to  resent  it.  (Heuter.,  ibid.) 
All  these  circumstances  render  it  improbable  that  Philip,  who  made 
his  will  a  few  days  before  he  died  (Heuter.,  p.  152),  should  commit 
the  education  of  his  son  to  Louis  XII.  In  confirmation  of  these 
plausible  conjectures  positive  testimony  can  be  produced.  It  appears 
from  Heuterus  that  Philip,  when  he  set  out  for  Spain,  had  intrusted 
Chievreb  both  with  the  care  of  his  son's  education  and  with  the  gov- 
ernment of  his  dominions  in  the  Low  Countries  (Heuter.,  lib.  vii.  p. 
J53) ;  that  an  attempt  was  made,  soon  after  Philip's  death,  to  have 
the  emperor  Maximilian  appointed  regent  during  the  minority  of  his 
grandson,  but,  this  being  opposed,  Chievres  seems  to  have  continued 
to  discharge  both  the  offices  which  Philip  had  committed  to  him 
(Heuter.,  ibid.,  153,  155) ;  that  in  the  beginning  of  the  year  1508  the 
Flemings  invited  Maximilian  to  accept  of  the  regency,  to  which  he 
consented,  and  appointed  his  daughter  Margaret,  together  with  a 
council  of  Flemings,  to  exercise  the  supreme  authority  when  he  him- 
self should  at  any  time  be  absent.  He  likewise  named  Chievres  as 
governor,  and  Adrian  of  Utrecht  as  preceptor  to  his  son.  (Heuter., 
ibid.,  155,  157.)  What  Heuterus  relates  with  respect  to  this  matter  is 
confirmed  by  Moringus,  in  Vita  Adrian!  apud  Analecta  Casp.  Bur- 
manni  de  Adriano,  cap.  10;  by  Barlandus,  Chronic.  Brabant.,  ibid., 
p.  25 ;  and  by  Haraeus,  Annal.  Brab.,  vol.  ii.  p.  520,  etc. 


EMPEROR  CHARLES  THE  FIFTH,     395 

attain,  he  owed  not  to  his  birth,  for  that  was  extremely 
mean,  nor  to  his  interest,  for  he  was  a  stranger  to  the 
arts  of  a  court,  but  to  the  opinion  which  his  country- 
men entertained  of  his  learning.  He  was  indeed  no 
inconsiderable  proficient  in  those  frivolous  sciences 
which  during  several  centuries  assumed  the  name  of 
philosophy,  and  had  published  a  commentary,  which 
was  highly  esteemed,  upon  The  Book  of  Sentences,  a 
famous  treatise  of  Petrus  Lombardus,  considered  at 
that  time  as  the  standard  system  of  metaphysical 
theology.  But,  whatever  admiration  these  procured 
him  in  an  illiterate  age,  it  was  soon  found  that  a  man 
accustomed  to  the  retirement  of  a  college,  unacquainted 
with  the  world,  and  without  any  tincture  of  taste  or 
elegance,  was  by  no  means  qualified  for  rendering 
science  agreeable  to  a  young  prince.  Charles,  accord- 
ingly, discovered  an  early  aversion  to  learning,  and  an 
excessive  fondness  for  those  violent  and  martial  exer- 
cises to  excel  in  which  was  the  chief  pride,  and  almost 
the  only  study,  of  persons  of  rank  in  that  age. 
Chievres  encouraged  this  taste,  either  from  a  desire 
of  gaining  his  pupil  by  indulgence,  or  from  too  slight 
an  opinion  of  the  advantages  of  literary  accomplish- 
ments.31 He  instructed  him,  however,  with  great  care 
in  the  arts  of  government ;  he  made  him  study  the 
history  not  only  of  his  own  kingdoms,  but  of  those 
with  which  they  were  connected  ;  he  accustomed  him, 
from  the  time  of  his  assuming  the  government  of 
Flanders,  in  the  year  1515,  to  attend  to  business;  he 
persuaded  him  to  peruse  all  papers  relating  to  public 

3'  Jovii  Vita  Adrian!,  p.  91. — Struvii  Corpus  Hist.  Germ.,  ii.  967. — 
P.  Heuter.,  Rer.  Austr.,  lib.  vii.  c.  3,  p.  157. 


3g6  REIGN  OF  THE 

affairs,  to  be  present  at  the  deliberations  of  his  privy- 
councillors,  and  to  propose  to  them  himself  those 
matters  concerning  which  he  required  their  opinion.32 
From  such  an  education  Charles  contracted  habits  of 
gravity  and  recollection  which  scarcely  suited  his  time 
of  life.  The  first  openings  of  his  genius  did  not  indi- 
cate that  superiority  which  its  maturer  age  displayed.33 
He  did  not  discover  in  his  youth  the  impetuosity  of 
spirit  which  commonly  ushers  in  an  active  and  enter- 
prising manhood.  Nor  did  his  early  obsequiousness  to 
Chievres  and  his  other  favorites  promise  that  capacious 
and  decisive  judgment  which  afterwards  directed  the 
affairs  of  one-half  of  Europe.  But  his  subjects,  dazzled 
with  the  external  accomplishments  of  a  graceful  figure 
and  manly  address,  and  viewing  his  character  with 
that  partiality  which  is  always  shown  to  princes  during 
their  youth,  entertained  sanguine  hopes  of  his  adding 
lustre  to  those  crowns  which  descended  to  him  by  the 
death  of  Ferdinand. 

The  kingdoms  of  Spain,  as  is  evident  from  the  view 
which  I  have  given  of  their  political  constitution,  were 
at  that  time  in  a  situation  which  required  an  adminis- 
tration no  less  vigorous  than  prudent.  The  feudal  in- 
stitutions, which  had  been  introduced  into  all  its  differ- 
ent provinces  by  the  Goths,  the  Suevi,  and  the  Vandals, 
subsisted  in  great  force.  The  nobles,  who  were  power- 
ful and  warlike,  had  long  possessed  all  the  exorbitant 
privileges  which  these  institutions  vested  in  their  order. 
The  cities  in  Spain  were  more  numerous  and  more  con- 

y*  Memoires  de  Bellay,  8vo,  Par.,  1573,  p.  n. — P.  Heuter.,  lib.  viii. 
c.  i,  p.  184. 

33  P.  Martyr.  Ep.,  569,  655. 


EMPEROR   CHARLES    THE  FIFTH.  397 

siderable  than  the  genius  of  feudal  government,  natu- 
rally unfavorable  to  commerce  and  to  regular  police, 
seemed  to  admit.  The  personal  rights  and  political 
influence  which  the  inhabitants  of  these  cities  had 
acquired  were  extensive.  The  royal  prerogative,  cir- 
cumscribed by  the  privileges  of  the  nobility  and  by  the 
pretensions  of  the  people,  was  confined  within  very 
narrow  limits.  Under  such  a  form  of  government,  the 
principles  of  discord  were  many,  the  bond  of  union 
was  extremely  feeble,  and  Spain  felt  not  only  all  the 
inconveniences  occasioned  by  the  defects  in  the  feudal 
system,  but  was  exposed  to  disorders  arising  from  the 
peculiarities  in  its  own  constitution. 

During  the  long  administration  of  Ferdinand,  no 
internal  commotion,  it  is  true,  had  arisen  in  Spain. 
His  superior  abilities  had  enabled  him  to  restrain  the 
turbulence  of  the  nobles  and  to  moderate  the  jealousy 
of  the  commons.  By  the  wisdom  of  his  domestic 
government,  by  the  sagacity  with  which  he  conducted 
his  foreign  operations,  and  by  the  high  opinion  that 
his  subjects  entertained  of  both,  he  had  preserved 
among  them  a  degree  of  tranquillity  greater  than  was 
natural  to  a  constitution  in  which  the  seeds  of  discord 
and  disorder  were  so  copiously  mingled.  But  by  the 
death  of  Ferdinand  these  restraints  were  at  once  with- 
drawn ;  and  faction  and  discontent,  from  being  long 
repressed,  were  ready  to  break  out  with  fiercer  ani- 
mosity. 

In  order  to  prevent  these  evils,  Ferdinand  had  in  his 
last  will  taken  a  most  prudent  precaution,  by  appoint- 
ing Cardinal  Ximenes,  archbishop  of  Toledo,  to  be 
sole  regent  of  Castile  until  the  arrival  of  his  grandson 
Charles. — VOL.  T.  34 


398 


REIGN  OF  THE 


in  Spain.  The  singular  character  of  this  man,  and  the 
extraordinary  qualities  which  marked  him  out  for  that 
office  at  such  a  juncture,  merit  a  particular  description. 
He  was  descended  of  an  honorable,  not  of  a  wealthy, 
family ;  and,  the  circumstances  of  his  parents,  as  well 
as  his  own  inclinations,  having  determined  him  to  enter 
into  the  Church,  he  early  obtained  benefices  of  great 
value  and  which  placed  him  in  the  way  of  the  highest 
preferment.  All  these,  however,  he  renounced  at  once, 
and,  after  undergoing  a  very  severe  novitiate,  assumed 
the  habit  of  St.  Francis  in  a  monastery  of  Observantine 
friars,  one  of  the  most  rigid  orders  in  the  Romish 
Church.  There  he  soon  became  eminent  for  his  un- 
common austerity  of  manners,  and  for  those  excesses 
of  superstitious  devotion  which  are  the  proper  charac- 
teristics of  the  monastic  life.  But,  notwithstanding 
these  extravagances,  to  which  weak  and  enthusiastic 
minds  alone  are  usually  prone,  his  understanding,  natu- 
rally penetrating  and  decisive,  retained  its  full  vigor, 
and  acquired  him  such  great  authority  in  his  own  order 
as  raised  him  to  be  their  provincial.  His  reputation 
for  sanctity  soon  procured  him  the  office  of  father-con- 
fessor to  Queen  Isabella,  which  he  accepted  with  the 
utmost  reluctance.  He  preserved  in  a  court  the  same 
austerity  of  manners  which  had  distinguished  him  in 
the  cloister.  He  continued  to  make  all  his  journeys 
on  foot ;  he  subsisted  only  upon  alms ;  his  acts  of  mor- 
tification were  as  severe  as  ever,  and  his  penances  as 
rigorous.  Isabella,  pleased  with  her  choice,  conferred 
on  him,  not  long  after,  the  archbishopric  of  Toledo, 
which,  next  to  the  papacy,  is  the  richest  dignity  in  the 
Church  of  Rome.  This  honor  he  declined  with  the 


EMPEROR  CHARLES  THE  FIFTH. 


399 


firmness  which  nothing  but  the  authoritative  injunction 
of  the  pope  was  able  to  overcome.  Nor  did  this  height 
of  promotion  change  his  manners.  Though  obliged 
to  display  in  public  that  magnificence  which  became 
his  station,  he  himself  retained  his  monastic  severity. 
Under  his  pontifical  robes  he  constantly  wore  the  coarse 
frock  of  St.  Francis,  the  rents  in  which  he  used  to  patch 
with  his  own  hands.  He  at  no  time  used  linen,  but 
was  commonly  clad  in  hair-cloth.  He  slept  always  in 
his  habit,  most  frequently  on  the  ground,  or  on  boards, 
rarely  in  a  bed.  He  did  not  taste  any  of  the  delicacies 
which  appeared  at  his  table,  but  satisfied  himself  with 
that  simple  diet  which  the  rule  of  his  order  prescribed.34 
Notwithstanding  these  peculiarities,  so  opposite  to  the 
manners  of  the  world,  he  possessed  a  thorough  knowl- 
edge of  its  affairs ;  and  no  sooner  was  he  called  by  his 
station,  and  by  the  high  opinion  which  Ferdinand  and 
Isabella  entertained  of  him,  to  take  a  principal  share  in 
the  administration,  than  he  displayed  talents  for  busi- 
ness which  rendered  the  fame  of  his  wisdom  equal  to 
that  of  his  sanctity.  His  political  conduct,  remarkable 
for  the  boldness  and  originality  of  all  his  plans,  flowed 
from  his  real  character  and  partook  both  of  its  virtues 
and  its  defects.  His  extensive  genius  suggested  to  him 
schemes  vast  and  magnificent.  Conscious  of  the  in- 
tegrity of  his  intentions,  he  pursued  these  with  unre- 
mitting and  undaunted  firmness.  Accustomed  from 
his  early  youth  to  mortify  his  own  passions,  he  showed 
little  indulgence  toward  those  of  other  men.  Taught 
by  his  system  of  religion  to  check  even  his  most  inno- 

34  Histoire  de  1'Administration  du  Cardinal  Ximen&s,  par  Mich. 
Baudier,  410,  1635,  p.  13. 


400  REIGN  OF  THE 

cent  desires,  he  was  the  enemy  of  every  thing  to  which 
he  could  affix  the  name  of  elegance  or  pleasure.  Though 
free  from  any  suspicion  of  cruelty,  he  discovered  in  all 
his  commerce  with  the  world  a  severe  inflexibility  of 
mind,  and  austerity  of  character,  peculiar  to  the  mon- 
astic profession,  and  which  can  hardly  be  conceived  in 
a  country  where  that  is  unknown. 

Such  was  the  man  to  \\hom  Ferdinand  committed 
the  regency  of  Castile ;  and  though  Ximenes  was  then 
near  fourscore,  and  perfectly  acquainted  with  the  labor 
and  difficulty  of  the  office,  his  natural  intrepidity  of 
mind,  and  zeal  for  the  public  good,  prompted  him  to 
accept  of  it  without  hesitation.  Adrian  of  Utrecht, 
who  had  been  sent  into  Spain  a  few  months  before  the 
death  of  P'erdinand,  produced  full  powers  from  the 
archduke  to  assume  the  name  and  authority  of  regent 
upon  the  demise  of  his  grandfather ;  but  such  was  the 
aversion  of  the  Spaniards  to  the  government  of  a 
stranger,  and  so  unequal  the  abilities  of  the  two  com- 
petitors, that  Adrian's  claim  would  at  once  have  been 
rejected  if  Ximenes  himself,  from  complaisance  to  his 
new  master,  had  not  consented  to  acknowledge  him  as 
regent  and  to  carry  on  the  government  in  conjunction 
with  him.  By  this,  however,  Adrian  acquired  a  dig- 
nity merely  nominal.  Ximenes,  though  he  treated  him 
with  great  decency,  and  even  respect,  retained  the 
whole  power  in  his  own  hands.35 

The  cardinal's  first  care  was  to  observe  the  motions 
of  the  infant  Don  Ferdinand,  who,  having  been  flat- 
tered with  so  near  a  prospect  of  supreme  power,  bore 
the  disappointment  of  his  hopes  with  greater  impa- 

35  Gometius  de  Reb.  gest.  Ximenii,  p.  150,  fol.,  Compl.,  1569. 


EMPEROR   CHARLES   THE   FIFTH.          401 

tience  than  a  prince  at  a  period  of  life  so  early  could 
have  been  supposed  to  feel.  Ximenes,  under  pretence 
of  providing  more  effectually  for  his  safety,  removed 
him  from  Guadalupe,  the  place  in  which  he  had  been 
educated,  to  Madrid,  where  he  fixed  the  residence  of 
the  court.  There  he  was  under  the  cardinal's  own 
eye,  and  his  conduct,  with  that  of  his  domestics,  was 
watched  with  the  utmost  attention.36 

The  first  intelligence  he  received  from  the  Low 
Countries  gave  greater  disquiet  to  the  cardinal,  and 
convinced  him  how  difficult  a  task  it  would  be  to 
conduct  the  affairs  of  an  inexperienced  prince  under 
the  influence  of  councillors  unacquainted  with  the, 
laws  and  manners  of  Spain.  No  sooner  did  the 
account  of  Ferdinand's  death  reach  Brussels  than 
Charles,  by  the  advice  of  his  Flemish  ministers,  re- 
solved to  assume  the  title  of  king.  By  the  laws  of 
Spain,  the  sole  right  of  the  crowns  both  of  Castile  and 
of  Aragon  belonged  to  Joanna;  and,  though  her  infirmi- 
ties disqualified  her  from  governing,  this  incapacity 
had  not  been  declared  by  any  public  act  of  the  cortes 
in  either  kingdom ;  so  that  the  Spaniards  considered 
this  resolution  not  only  as  a  direct  violation  of  their 
privileges,  but  as  an  unnatural  usurpation  in  a  son  on 
the  prerogatives  of  a  mother,  towards  whom,  in  her 
present  unhappy  situation,  he  manifested  a  less  delicate 
regard  than  her  subjects  had  always  expressed.37  The 
Flemish  court,  however,  having  prevailed  both  on  the 
pope  and  on  the  emperor  to  address  letters  to  Charles 

3*  Minianse  Contin.  Marianas,  lib.  i.  c.  2. — Baudier,  Hist,  de  Xime- 
n£s,  p.  118. 

37  P.  Martyr.  Ep.,  568. 

34* 


402 


REIGN  OF  THE 


as  king  of  Castile, — the  former  of  whom  it  was  pre- 
tended had  a  right  as  head  of  the  Church,  and  the 
latter  as  head  of  the  empire,  to  confer  this  title, — 
instructions  were  sent  to  Ximenes  to  prevail  on  the 
Spaniards  to  acknowledge  it.  Ximenes,  though  he  had 
earnestly  remonstrated  against  the  measure,  as  no  less 
unpopular  than  unnecessary,  resolved  to  exert  all  his 
authority  and  credit  in  carrying  it  into  execution,  and 
immediately  assembled  such  of  the  nobles  as  were  then 
at  court.  .What  Charles  required  was  laid  before  them; 
and  when,  instead  of  complying  with  his  demands, 
they  began  to  murmur  against  such  an  unprecedented 
encroachment  on  their  privileges,  and  to  talk  high  of 
the  rights  of  Joanna  and  their  oath  of  allegiance  to 
her,  Ximenes  hastily  interposed,  and,  with  that  firm 
and  decisive  tone  which  was  natural  to  him,  told  them 
that  they  were  not  called  now  to  deliberate,  but  to 
obey;  that  their  sovereign  did  not  apply  to  them  for 
advice,  but  expected  submission;  and  "this  day," 
added  he,  "Charles  shall  be  proclaimed  king  of  Cas- 
tile in  Madrid ;  and  the  rest  of  the  cities,  I  doubt  not, 
will  follow  its  example."  On  the  spot  he  gave  orders 
for  that  purpose ;  *  and,  notwithstanding  the  novelty 
of  the  practice,  and  the  secret  discontents  of  many 
persons  of  distinction,  Charles's  title  was  universally 
recognized.  In  Aragon,  where  the  privileges  of  the 
subject  were  more  extensive,  and  the  abilities  as  well 
as  authority  of  the  archbishop  of  Saragossa,  whom 
Ferdinand  had  appointed  regent,  were  far  inferior  to 
those  of  Ximenes,  the  same  obsequiousness  to  the  will 
of  Charles  did  not  appear,  nor  was  he  acknowledged 

38  Gometius,  p.  152,  etc. — Baudier,  Hist,  de  Ximenes,  p.  121. 


EMPEROR  CHARLES  THE  FIFTH. 


403 


there  under  any  other  character  but  that  of  prince, 
until  his  arrival  in  Spain.39 

Ximenes,  though  possessed  only  of  delegated  power, 
which,  from  his  advanced  age,  he  could  not  expect  to 
enjoy  long,  assumed,  together  with  the  character  of 
regent,  all  the  ideas  natural  to  a  monarch,  and  adopted 
•schemes  for  extending  the  regal  authority,  which  he 
pursued  with  as  much  intrepidity  and  ardor  as  if  he 
himself  had  been  to  reap  the  advantages  resulting  from 
their  success.  The  exorbitant  privileges  of  the  Cas- 
tilian  nobles  circumscribed  the  prerogative  of  the 
prince  within  very  narrow  limits.  These  privileges  the 
cardinal  considered  as  so  many  unjust  extortions  from 
the  crown,  and  determined  to  abridge  them.  Dan- 
gerous as  the  attempt  was,  there  were  circumstances 
in  his  situation  which  promised  him  greater  success 
than  any  king  of  Castile  could  have  expected.  His 
strict  and  prudent  economy  of  his  archiepiscopal  rev- 
enues furnished  him  with  more  ready  money  than 
the  crown  could  at  any  time  command ;  the  sanctity 
of  his  manners,  his  charity  and  munificence,  ren- 
dered him  the  idol  of  the  people ;  and  the  nobles 
themselves,  not  suspecting  any  danger  from  him,  did 
not  observe  his  motions  with  the  same  jealous  atten- 
tion as  they  would  have  watched  those  of  one  of  their 
monarchs. 

Immediately  upon  his  accession  to  the  regency, 
several  of  the  nobles,  fancying  that  the  reins  of  gov- 
ernment would,  of  consequence,  be  somewhat  relaxed, 
began  to  assemble  their  vassals,  and  to  prosecute,  by 
force  of  arms,  private  quarrels  and  pretensions  which 

39  P.  Martyr.  Ep.,  572. 


404  REIGN  OF  THE 

the  authority  of  Ferdinand  had  obliged  them  to  dis- 
semble or  to  relinquish.  But  Ximenes,  who  had  taken 
into  pay  a  good  body  of  troops,  opposed  and  defeated 
all  their  designs  with  unexpected  vigor  and  facility; 
and,  though  he  did  not .  treat  the  authors  of  these 
disorders  with  any  cruelty,  he  forced  them  to  acts  of 
submission  extremely  mortifying  to  the  haughty  spirit 
of  Castilian  grandees. 

But  while  the  cardinal's  attacks  were  confined  to 
individuals,  and  every  act  of  rigor  was  justified  by 
the  appearance  of  necessity,  founded  on  the  forms  of 
justice  and  tempered  with  a  mixture  of  lenity,  there 
was  scarcely  room  for  jealousy  or  complaint.  It  was 
not  so  with  his  next  measure,  which,  by  striking  at  a 
privilege  essential  to  the  nobility,  gave  a  general  alarm 
to  the  whole  order.  By  the  feudal  constitution,  the 
military  power  was  lodged  in  the  hands  of  the  nobles, 
and  men  of  an  inferior  condition  were  called  into  the 
field  only  as  their  vassals  and  to  follow  their  banners. 
A  king  with  scanty  revenues  and  a  limited  prerogative 
depended  on  these  potent  barons  in  all  his  operations. 
It  was  with  their  forces  he  attacked  his  enemies,  and 
with  them  he  defended  his  kingdom.  While  at  the 
head  of  troops  attached  warmly  to  their  own  im- 
mediate lords  and  accustomed  to  obey  no  other  com- 
mands, his  authority  was  precarious  and  his  efforts 
feeble.  From  this  state  Ximenes  resolved  to  deliver 
the  crown ;  and  as  mercenary  standing  armies  were 
unknown  under  the  feudal  government,  and  would 
have  been  odiotis  to  a  martial  and  generous  people, 
he  issued  a  proclamation  commanding  every  city  in 
Castile  to  enroll  a  certain  number  of  its  burgesses,  in 


EMPEROR    CHARLES   THE  FIFTH.  405 

order  that  they  might  be  trained  to  the  use  of  arms  on 
Sundays  and  holidays ;  he  engaged  to  provide  officers 
to  command  them  at  the  public  expense,  and,  as  an 
encouragement  to  the  private  men,  promised  them  an 
exemption  from  all  taxes  and  impositions.  The  fre- 
quent incursions  of  the  Moors  from  Africa,  and  the 
necessity  of  having  some  force  always  ready  to  oppose 
them,  furnished  a  plausible  pretence  for  this  innova- 
tion. The  object  really  in  view  was  to  secure  the  king 
a  body  of  troops  independent  of  his  barons  and  which 
might  serve  to  counterbalance  their  power.40  The 
nobles  were  not  slow  in  perceiving  what  was  his  inten- 
tion, and  saw  how  effectually  the  scheme  which  he  had 
adopted  would  accomplish  his  end ;  but  as  a  measure 
which  had  the  pious  appearance  of  resisting  the  pro- 
gress of  the  infidels  was  extremely  popular,  and  as  any 
opposition  to  it  arising  from  their  order  alone  would 
have  been  imputed  wholly  to  interested  motives,  they 
endeavored  to  excite  the  cities  themselves  to  refuse 
obedience  and  to  inveigh  against  the  proclamation  as 
inconsistent  with  their  charters  and  privileges.  In 
consequence  of  their  instigation,  Burgos,  Valladolid, 
and  several  other  cities  rose  in  open  mutiny.  Some 
of  the  grandees  declared  themselves  their  protectors. 
Violent  remonstrances  were  presented  to  the  king. 
His  Flemish  councillors  were  alarmed.  Ximenes  alone 
continued  firm  and  undaunted  ;  and,  partly  by  terror, 
partly  by  entreaty,  by  force  in  some  instances,  and  by 
forbearance  in  others,  he  prevailed  on  all  the  refractory 
cities  to  comply.41  During  his  administration  he  con- 

•4°  Minianse  Continuatio  Mariana:,  fol.,  Hag.,  1733,  p.  3. 
41  P.  Martyr.  Ep.t  556,  etc. — Gometius,  p.  160,  etc. 


4o6  REIGN  OF   THE 

tinued  to  execute  his  plan  with  vigor ;  but  soon  after 
his  death  it  was  entirely  dropped. 

His  success  in  this  scheme  for  reducing  the  exorbi- 
tant power  of  the  nobility  encouraged  him  to  attempt 
a  diminution  of  their  possessions,  which  were  no  less 
exorbitant.  During  the  contests  and  disorders  insepa- 
rable from  the  feudal  government,  the  nobles,  ever 
attentive  to  their  own  interest,  and  taking  advantage 
of  the  weakness  or  distress  of  their  monarchs,  had 
seized  some  parts  of  the  royal  demesnes,  obtained 
grants  of  others,  and,  having  gradually  wrested  almost 
the  whole  out  of  the  hands  of  the  prince,  had  annexed 
them  to  their  own  estates.  The  titles  by  which  most 
of  the  grandees  held  these  lands  were  extremely  de- 
fective :  it  was  from  some  successful  usurpation  which 
the  crown  had  been  too  feeble  to  dispute,  that  many 
derived  their  only  claim  to  possession.  An  inquiry 
carried  back  to  the  origin  of  these  encroachments, 
which  were  almost  coeval  with  the  feudal  system,  was 
impracticable;  and,  as  it  would  have  stripped  every 
nobleman  in  Spain  of  great  part  of  his  lands,  it  must 
have  excited  a  general  revolt.  Such  a  step  was  too 
bold  even  for  the  enterprising  spirit  of  Ximenes.  He 
confined  himself  to  the  reign  of  Ferdinand,  and,  begin- 
ning with  the  pensions  granted  during  that  time,  refused 
to  make  any  farther  payment,  because  all  right  to  them 
expired  with  his  life.  He  then  called  to  account  such 
as  had  acquired  crown  lands  under  the  administration 
of  that  monarch,  and  at  once  resumed  whatever  he  had 
alienated.  The  effects  of  these  revocations  extended  to 
many  persons  of  high  rank ;  for  though  Ferdinand  was 
a  prince  of  little  generosity,  yet  he  and  Isabella  having 


EMPEROR  CHARLES  THE  FIFTH. 


407 


been  raised  to  the  throne  of  Castile  by  a  powerful  fac- 
tion of  the  nobles,  they  were  obliged  to  reward  the  zeal 
of  their  adherents  with  great  liberality,  and  the  royal 
demesnes  were  their  only  fund  for  that  purpose.  The 
addition  made  to  the  revenue  of  the  crown  by  these 
revocations,  together  with  his  own  frugal  economy, 
enabled  Ximenes  not  only  to  discharge  all  the  debts 
which  Ferdinand  had  left,  and  to  remit  considerable 
sums  to  Flanders,  but  to  pay  the  officers  of  his  new 
militia,  and  to  establish  magazines  not  only  more 
numerous,  but  better  furnished  with  artillery,  arms, 
and  warlike  stores,  than  Spain  had  ever  possessed  in 
any  former  age.43  The  prudent  and  disinterested  ap- 
plication of  these  sums  was  a  full  apology  to  the  people 
for  the  rigor  with  which  they  were  exacted. 

The  nobles,  alarmed  at  these  repeated  attacks,  began 
to  think  of  precautions  for  the  safety  of  their  order. 
Many  cabals  were  formed,  loud  complaints  were  uttered, 
and  desperate  resolutions  taken  ;  but  before  they  pro- 
ceeded to  extremities  they  appointed  some  of  their 
number  to  examine  the  powers  in  consequence  of  which 
the  cardinal  exercised  acts  of  such  high  authority.  The 
admiral  of  Castile,  the  Duke  de  Infantado,  and  the 
Conde  de  Benevento,  grandees  of  the  first  rank,  were 
intrusted  with  this  commission.  Ximenes  received  them 
with  cold  civility,  and,  in  answer  to  their  demand, 
produced  the  testament  of  Ferdinand,  by  which  he  was 
appointed  regent,  together  with  the  ratification  of  that 
deed  by  Charles.  To  both  these  they  objected ;  and 
he  endeavored  to  establish  their  validity.  As  the  con- 
versation grew  warm,  he  led  them  insensibly  towards  a 

4*  Flechier,  Vie  de  Ximenes,  ii.  600. 


4o8  REIGN  OF   THE 

balcony,  from  which  they  had  a  view  of  a  large  body 
of  troops  under  arms,  and  of  a  formidable  train  of 
artillery.  "Behold,"  says  he,  pointing  to  these,  and 
raising  his  voice,  "the  powers  which  I  have  received 
from  his  Catholic  majesty.  With  these  I  govern  Castile ; 
and  with  these  I  will  govern  it  until  the  king,  your 
master  and  mine,  takes  possession  of  his  kingdom."43 
A  declaration  so  bold  and  haughty  silenced  them  and 
astonished  their  associates.  To  take  arms  against  a 
man  aware  of  his  danger  and  prepared  for  his  defence 
was  what  despair  alone  would  dictate.  All  thoughts 
of  a  general  confederacy  against  the  cardinal's  admin- 
istration were  laid  aside ;  and,  except  for  some  slight 
commotions  excited  by  the  private  resentment  of  par- 
ticular noblemen,  the  tranquillity  of  Castile  suffered  no 
interruption. 

It  was  not  only  from  the  opposition  of  the  Spanish 
nobility  that  obstacles  arose  to  the  execution  of  the 
cardinal's  schemes;  he  had  a  constant  struggle  to 
maintain  with  the  Flemish  ministers,  who,  presuming 
upon  their  favor  with  the  young  king,  aimed  at  direct- 
ing the  affairs  of  Spain,  as  well  as  those  of  their  own 
country.  Jealous  of  the  great  abilities  and  independent 
spirit  of  Ximenes,  they  considered  him  rather  as  a  rival 
who  might  circumscribe  their  power  than  as  a  minis- 
ter who  by  his  prudence  and  vigor  was  adding  to  the 
grandeur  and  authority  of  their  master.  Every  com- 
plaint against  his  administration  was  listened  to  with 
pleasure  by  the  courtiers  in  the  Low  Countries.  Un- 
necessary obstructions  were  thrown  by  their  means  in 
the  way  of  all  his  measures ;  and  though  they  could  not 

43  Flechier,  ii.  551. — Ferreras,  Hist.,  viii.  433. 


EMPEROR    CHARLES    THE   FIFTH. 


409 


either  with  decency  or  safety  deprive  him  of  the  office 
of  regent,  they  endeavored  to  lessen  his  authority 
by  dividing  it.  They  soon  discovered  that  Adrian 
of  Utrecht,  already  joined  with  him  in  office,  had 
neither  genius  nor  spirit  sufficient  to  give  the  least 
check  to  his  proceedings ;  and  therefore  Charles,  by 
their  advice,  added  to  the  commission  of  regency  La 
Chau,  a  Flemish  gentleman,  and  afterwards  Amerstorf, 
a  nobleman  of  Holland,  the  former  distinguished  for 
his  address,  the  latter  for  his  firmness.  Ximenes, 
though  no  stranger  to  the  malevolent  intention  of  the 
Flemish  courtiers,  received  these  new  associates  with 
all  the  external  marks  of  distinction  due  to  the  office 
with  which  they  were  invested  ;  but  when  they  came 
to  enter  upon  business  he  abated  nothing  of  that  air  of 
superiority  with  which  he  had  treated  Adrian,  and  still 
retained  the  sole  direction  of  affairs.  The  Spaniards, 
more  averse,  perhaps,  than  any  other  people  to  the 
government  of  strangers,  approved  of  all  his  efforts  to 
preserve  his  own  authority.  Even  the  nobles,  influenced 
by  this  national  passion  and  forgetting  their  jealousies 
and  discontents,  chose  rather  to  see  the  supreme  power 
in  the  hands  of  one  of  their  countrymen  whom  they 
feared  than  in  those  of  foreigners,  whom  they  hated. 

Ximenes,  though  engaged  in  such  great  schemes  of 
domestic  policy  and  embarrassed  by  the  artifices  and 
intrigues  of  the  Flemish  ministers,  had  the  burden  of 
two  foreign  wars  to  support.  The  one  was  in  Navarre, 
which  was  invaded  by  its  unfortunate  monarch,  John 
d'Albret.  The  death  of  Ferdinand,  the -absence  of 
Charles,  the  discord  and  disaffection  which  reigned 
among  the  Spanish  nobles,  seemed  to  present  him  with 
Charles.— VOL.  I. — s 


4io  REIGN  OF  THE 

a  favorable  opportunity  of  recovering  his  dominions. 
The  cardinal's  vigilance,  however,  defeated  a  measure 
so  well  concerted.  As  he  foresaw  the  danger  to  which 
that  kingdom  might  be  exposed,  one  of  his  first  acts 
of  administration  was  to  order  thither  a  considerable 
body  of  troops.  While  the  king  was  employed  with 
one  part  of  his  army  in  the  siege  of  St.  Jean  Pied  en 
Port,  Villalva,  an  officer  of  great  experience  and  cour- 
age, attacked  the  other  by  surprise  and  cut  it  to  pieces. 
The  king  instantly  retreated  with  precipitation,  and  an 
end  was* put  to  the  war.44  But  as  Navarre  was  filled  at 
that  time  with  towns  and  castles  slightly  fortified  and 
weakly  garrisoned,  which,  being  unable  to  resist  an 
enemy,  served  only  to  furnish  him  with  places  of  re- 
treat, Ximenes,  always  bold  and  decisive  in  his  meas- 
ures, ordered  every  one  of  these  to  be  dismantled,  except 
Pampeluna,  the  fortifications  of  which  he  proposed  to 
render  very  strong.  To  this  uncommon  precaution 
Spain  owes  the  possession  of  Navarre.  The  French, 
since  that  period,  have  often  entered  and  have  as  often 
overrun  the  open  country.  While  they  were  exposed 
to  all  the  inconveniences  attending  an  invading  army, 
the  Spaniards  have  easily  drawn  troops  from  the  neigh- 
boring provinces  to  oppose  them ;  and  the  French, 
having  no  place  of  any  strength  to  which  they  could 
retire,  have  been  obliged  repeatedly  to  abandon  their 
conquest  with  as  much  rapidity  as  they  gained  it. 

The  other  war,  which  he  carried  on  in  Africa  against 
the  famous  adventurer  Horuc  Barbarossa,  who  from  a 
private  corsair  raised  himself,  by  his  singular  valor  and 
address,  to  be  king  of  Algiers  and  Tunis,  was  far  from 

*»  P.  Martyr.  Ep.,  570. 


EMPEROR    CHARLES   THE  FIFTH.          411 

being  equally  successful.  The  ill  conduct  of  the  Span- 
ish general  and  the  rash  valor  of  his  troops  presented 
Barbarossa  with  an  easy  victory.  Many  perished  in  the 
battle,  more  in  the  retreat,  and  the  remainder  returned 
into  Spain  covered  with  infamy.  The  magnanimity, 
however,  with  which  the  cardinal  bore  this  disgrace, 
the  only  one  he  experienced  during  his  administration, 
added  new  lustre  to  his  character.45  Great  composure 
of  temper  under  a  disappointment  was  not  expected 
from  a  man  so  remarkable  for  the  eagerness  and  impa- 
tience with  which  he  urged  on  the  execution  of  all  his 
schemes. 

This  disaster  was  soon  forgotten  ;  while  the  conduct 
of  the  Flemish  court  proved  the  cause  of  constant  un- 
easiness not  only  to  the  cardinal  but  to  the  whole  Span- 
ish nation.  All  the  great  qualities  of  Chievres,  the  prime 
minister  and  favorite  of  the  young  king,  were  sullied 
with  an  ignoble  and  sordid  avarice.  The  accession  of 
his  master  to  the  crown  of  Spain  opened  a  new  and 
copious  source  for  the  gratification  of  this  passion. 
During  the  time  of  Charles's  residence  in  Flanders  the 
whole  tribe  of  pretenders  to  offices  or  to  favor  resorted 
thither.  They  soon  discovered  that  without  the  patron- 
age of  Chievres  it  was  vain  to  hope  for  preferment ; 
nor  did  they  want  sagacity  to  find  out  the  proper  method 
of  securing  his  protection.  Great  sums  of  money  were 
drawn  out  of  Spain.  Every  thing  was  venal  and  dis- 
posed of  to  the  highest  bidder.  After  the  example  of 
Chievres,  the  inferior  Flemish  ministers  engaged  in  this 
traffic,  which  became  as  general  and  avowed  as  it 
was  infamous.46  The  Spaniards  were  filled  with  rage 

*s  Gometius,  lib.  vi.  p.  179.  &  Miniana,  Contin.,  lib.  i.  c.  2. 


412 


REIGN  OF  THE 


when  they  beheld  offices  of  great  importance  to  the 
welfare  of  their  country  set  to  sale  by  strangers,  uncon- 
cerned for  its  honor  or  its  happiness.  Ximenes,  dis- 
interested in  his  whole  administration,  and  a  stranger, 
from  his  native  grandeur  of  mind,  to  the  passion  of 
avarice,  inveighed  with  the  utmost  boldness  against 
the  venality  of  the  Flemings.  He  represented  to  the 
king,  in  strong  terms,  the  murmurs  and  indignation 
which  their  behavior  excited  among  a  free  and  high- 
spirited  j>eople,  and  besought  him  to  set  out  without 
loss  of  time  for  Spain,  that  by  his  presence  he  might 
dissipate  the  clouds  which  were  gathering  all  over  the 
kingdom.47 

Charles  was  fully  sensible  that  he  had  delayed  too 
long  to  take  possession  of  his  dominions  in  Spain. 
Powerful  obstacles,  however,  stood  in  his  way  and  de- 
tained him  in  the  Low  Countries.  The  war  which  the 
League  of  Cambray  had  kindled  in  Italy  still  subsisted  ; 
though  during  its  course  the  armies  of  all  the  parties 
engaged  in  it  had  changed  their  destination  and  their 
objects.  France  was  now  in  alliance  with  Venice, 
which  it  had  at  first  combined  to  destroy.  Maximilian 
and  Ferdinand  had  for  some  years  carried  on  hostilities 
against  France,  their  original  ally,  to  the  valor  of 
whose  troops  the  confederacy  had  been  indebted  in  a 
great  measure  for  its  success.  Together  with  his  king- 
doms, Ferdinand  transmitted  this  war  to  his  grandson  ; 
and  there  was  reason  to  expect  that  Maximilian,  always 
fond  of  new  enterprises,  would  persuade  the  young 
monarch  to  enter  into  it  with  ardor.  But  the  Flem- 
ings, who  had  long  possessed  an  extensive  commerce, 

«  P.  Martyr.  Ep.,  576. 


EMPEROR   CHARLES    THE  FIFTH. 


413 


which  during  the  League  of  Cambray  had  grown  to  a 
great  height  upon  the  ruins  of  the  Venetian  trade, 
dreaded  a  rupture  with  France ;  and  Chievres,  saga- 
cious to  discern  the  true  interest  of  his  country,  and 
not  warped  on  this  occasion  by  his  love  of  wealth, 
warmly  declared  for  maintaining  peace  with  the  French 
nation.  Francis  I.,  destitute  of  allies,  and  solicitous 
to  secure  his  late  conquests  in  Italy  by  a  treaty,  listened 
with  joy  to  the  first  overtures  of  accommodation. 
Chievres  himself  conducted  the  negotiation  in  the 
name  of  Charles.  Gouffier  appeared  as  plenipotentiary 
for  Francis.  Each  of  them  had  presided  over  the  edu- 
cation of  the  prince  whom  he  represented.  They  had 
both  adopted  the  same  pacific  system,  and  were  equally 
persuaded  that  the  union  of  the  two  monarchs  was  the 
happiest  event  for  themselves,  as  well  as  for  their  king- 
doms. In  such  hands  the  negotiation  did  not  languish. 
A  few  days  after  opening  their  conferences  at  Noyon, 
they  concluded  a  treaty  of  confederacy  and  mutual  de- 
fence between  the  two  monarchs,  the  chief  articles  in 
which  were  that  Francis  should  give  in  marriage  to 
Charles  his  eldest  daughter,  the  princess  Louise,  an 
infant  of  a  year  old,  and,  as  her  dowry,  should  make 
over  to  him  all  his  claims  and  pretensions  upon  the 
kingdom  of  Naples  ;  that,  in  consideration  of  Charles's 
being  already  in  possession  of  Naples,  he  should,  until 
the  accomplishment  of  the  marriage,  pay  a  hundred 
thousand  crowns  a  year  to  the  French  king,  and  the 
half  of  that  sum  annually  as  long  as  the  princess  had 
no  children ;  that  when  Charles  shall  arrive  in  Spain 
the  heirs  of  the  king  of  Navarre  may  represent  to  him 
their  right  to  that  kingdom,  and  if,  after  examining 
35* 


414 


REIGN  OF   THE 


their  claim,  he  does  not  give  them  satisfaction,  Francis 
shall  be  at  liberty  to  assist  them  with  all  his  forces.48 
This  alliance  not  only  united  Charles  and  Francis,  but 
obliged  Maximilian,  who  was  unable  alone  to  cope  with 
the  French  and  Venetians,  to  enter  into  a  treaty  with 
those  powers,  which  put  a  final  period  to  the  bloody 
and  tedious  war  that  the  League  of  Cambray  had  occa- 
sioned. Europe  enjoyed  a  few  years  of  universal  tran- 
quillity, and  was  indebted  for  that  blessing  to  two 
princes  whose  rivalship  and  ambition  kept  it  in  per- 
petual discord  and  agitation  during  the  remainder  of 
their  reigns. 

By  the  treaty  of  Noyon,  Charles  secured  a  safe  pas- 
sage into  Spain.  It  was  not,  however,  the  interest  of 
his  Flemish  ministers  that  he  should  visit  that  kingdom 
soon:  While  he  resided  in  Flanders,  the  revenues  of 
the  Spanish  crown  were  spent  there,  and  they  en- 
grossed, without  any  competitors,  all  the  effects  of 
their  monarch's  generosity;  their  country  became  the 
seat  of  government,  and  all  favors  were  dispensed  by 
them.  Of  all  these  advantages  they  ran  the  risk  of 
seeing  themselves  deprived  from  the  moment  that  their 
sovereign  entered  Spain.  The  Spaniards  would  natu- 
rally assume  the  direction  of  their  own  affairs ;  the 
Low  Countries  would  be  considered  only  as  a  province 
of  that  mighty  monarchy;  and  they  who  now  dis- 
tributed the  favors  of  the  prince  to  others  must  then 
be  content  to  receive  them  from  the  hands  of  strangers. 
But  what  Chievres  chiefly  wished  to  avoid  was  an  inter- 
view between,  the  king  and  Ximenes.  On  the  one 
hand,  the  wisdom,  the  integrity,  and  the  magnanimity 

4s  Leonard,  Recueil  des  Traites,  torn.  ii.  p.  69. 


EMPEROR  CHARLES  THE  FIFTH. 


415 


of  that  prelate  gave  him  a  wonderful  ascendant  over 
the  minds  of  men ;  and  it  was  extremely  probable  that 
these  great  qualities,  added  to  the  reverence  due  to  his 
age  and  office,  would  command  the  respect  of  a  young 
prince  who,  capable  of  noble  and  generous  sentiments 
himself,  would,  in  proportion  to  his  admiration  of  the 
cardinal's  virtues,  lessen  his  deference  towards  persons 
of  another  character.  Or,  on  the  other  hand,  if  Charles 
should  allow  his  Flemish  favorites  to  retain  all  the  in- 
fluence over  his  councils  which  they  at  present  pos- 
sessed, it  was  easy  to  foresee  that  the  cardinal  would 
remonstrate  loudly  against  such  an  indignity  to  the 
Spanish  nation,  and  vindicate  the  rights  of  his  country 
with  the  same  intrepidity  and  success  with  which  he 
had  asserted  the  prerogatives  of  the  crown.  For  these 
reasons,  all  his  Flemish  councillors  combined  to  retard 
his  departure ;  and  Charles,  unsuspicious,  from  want 
of  experience,  and  fond  of  his  native  country,  suffered 
himself  to  be  unnecessarily  detained  in  the  Netherlands 
a  whole  year  after  signing  the  treaty  of  Noyon. 

The  repeated  entreaties  of  Ximenes,  the  advice  of 
his  grandfather  Maximilian,  and  the  impatient  mur- 
murs of  his  Spanish  subjects,  prevailed  on  him  at  last 
to  embark.  He  was  attended  not  only  by  Chievres, 
his  prime  minister,  but  by  a  numerous  and  splendid 
train  of  the  Flemish  nobles,  fond  of  beholding  the 
grandeur  or  of  sharing  in  the  bounty  of  their  prince. 
After  a  dangerous  voyage,  he  landed  at  Villa  Viciosa, 
in  the  province  of  Asturias,  and  was  received  with  such 
loud  acclamations  of  joy  as  a  new  monarch,  whose 
arrival  was  so  ardently  desired,  had  reason  to  expect. 
The  Spanish  nobility  resorted  to  their  sovereign  from 


41 6  REIGN  OF  THE 

all  parts  of  the  kingdom,  and  displayed  a  magnificence 
which  the  Flemings  were  unable  to  emulate.49 

Ximenes,  who  considered  the  presence  of  the  king  as 
the  greatest  blessing  to  his  dominions,  was  advancing 
towards  the  coast  as  fast  as  the  infirm  state  of  his 
health  would  permit,  in  order  to  receive  him.  During 
his  regency,  and  notwithstanding  his  extreme  old  age, 
he  had  abated  in  no  degree  the  rigor  or  frequency  of 
his  mortifications ;  and  to  these  he  added  such  labo- 
rious assiduity  in  business  as  would  have  worn  out  the 
most  youihful  and  vigorous  constitution.  Every  day 
he  employed  several  hours  in  devotion;  he  celebrated 
mass  in  person ;  he  even  allotted  some  space  for  study. 
Notwithstanding  these  occupations,  he  regularly  at- 
tended the  council;  he  received  and  read  all  papers 
presented  to  him;  he  dictated  letters  and  instructions, 
and  took  under  his  inspection  all  business,  civil,  eccle- 
siastical, or  military.  Every  moment  of  his  time  was 
filled  up  with  some  serious  employment.  The  only 
amusement  in  which  he  indulged  himself,  by  way  of 
relaxation  after  business,  was  to  canvass,  with  a  few 
friars  and  other  divines,  some  intricate  article  in  scho- 
lastic theology.  Wasted  by  such  a  course  of  life,  the 
infirmities  of  age  daily  grew  upon  him.  On  his  jour- 
ney, a  violent  disorder  seized  him  at  Bos  Equillos, 
attended  with  uncommon  symptoms,  which  his  fol- 
lowers considered  as  the  effect  of  poison,50  but  could 
not  agree  whether  the  crime  ought  to  be  imputed  to 
the  hatred  of  the  Spanish  nobles  or  to  the  malice  of 
the  Flemish  courtiers.  This  accident  obliging  him  to 

49  P.  Martyr.  Ep.,  599,  601. 
so  Miniana,  Contin.,  lib.  i.  c.  3. 


EMPEROR  CHARLES  THE  FIFTH.     4I; 

stop  short,  he  wrote  to  Charles,  and  with  his  usual 
boldness  advised  him  to  dismiss  all  the  strangers  in  his 
train,  whose  numbers  and  credit  gave  offence  already 
to  the  Spaniards  and  would  ere  long  alienate  the  affec- 
tions of  the  whole  people.  At  the  same  time,  he 
earnestly  desired  to  have  an  interview  with  the  king, 
that  he  might  inform  him  of  the  state  of  the  nation 
and  the  temper  of  his  subjects.  To  prevent  this,  not 
only  the  Flemings  but  the  Spanish  grandees  employed 
all  their  address,  and  industriously  kept  Charles  at  a 
distance  from  Aranda,  the  place  to  which  the  cardinal 
had  removed.  Through  their  suggestions,  every  meas- 
ure that  he  recommended  was  rejected,  the  utmost  care 
was  taken  to  make  him  feel,  and  to  point  out  to  the 
whole  nation,  that  his  power  was  on  the  decline;  even 
in  things  purely  trivial,  such  a  choice  was  always  made 
as  was  deemed  most  disagreeable  to  him.  Ximenes  did 
not  bear  this  treatment  with  his  usual  fortitude  of  spirit. 
Conscious  of  his  own  integrity  and  merit,  he  expected 
a  more  grateful  return  from  a  prince  to  whom  he  deliv- 
ered a  kingdom  more  flourishing  than  it  had  been  in 
any  former  age,  together  with  authority  more  extensive 
and  better  established  than  the  most  illustrious  of  his 
ancestors  had  ever  possessed.  He  could  not  therefore, 
on  many  occasions,  refrain  from  giving  vent  to  his 
indignation  and  complaints.  He  lamented  the  fate  of 
his  country,  and  foretold  the  calamities  which  it  would 
suffer  from  the  insolence,  the  rapaciousness,  and  igno- 
rance of  strangers.  While  his  mind  was  agitated  by 
these  passions,  he  received  a  letter  from  the  king,  in 
which,  after  a  few  cold  and  formal  expressions  of 
regard,  he  was  allowed  to  retire  to  his  diocese,  that, 


4i 8  REIGN  OF  THE 

after  a  life  of  such  continued  labor,  he  might  end  his 
days  in  tranquillity.  This  message  proved  fatal  to 
Ximenes.  His  haughty  mind,  it  is  probable,  could 
not  survive  disgrace;  perhaps  his  generous  heart  could 
not  bear  the  prospect  of  the  misfortunes  ready  to  fall 
on  his  country.  Whichsoever  of  these  opinions  we 
embrace,  certain  it  is  that  he  expired  a  few  hours  after 
reading  the  letter.5'  The  variety,  the  grandeur,  and 
the  success  of  his  schemes,  during  a  regency  of  only 
twenty  mojiths,  leave  it  doubtful  whether  his  sagacity 
in  council,  his  prudence  in  conduct,  or  his  boldness  in 
execution  deserve  the  greatest  praise.  His  reputation 
is  still  high  in  Spain,  not  only  for  wisdom,  but  for 
sanctity;  and  he  is  the  only  prime  minister  mentioned 
in  history  whom  his  contemporaries  reverenced  as  a 
saint,52  and  to  whom  the  people  under  his  government 
ascribed  the  power  of  working  miracles. 

Soon  after  the  death  of  Ximenes,  Charles  made  his 
public  entry,  with  great  pomp,  into  Valladolid,  whither 
he  had  summoned  the  cortes  of  Castile.  Though  he 
assumed  on  all  occasions  the  name  of  Jcing,  that  title 
had  never  been  acknowledged  in  the  cortes.  The 
Spaniards  considering  Joanna  as  possessed  of  the  sole 
right  to  the  crown,  and  no  example  of  a  son's  having 
enjoyed  the  title  of  king  during  the  life  of  his  parents 
occurring  in  their  history,  the  cortes  discovered  all  that 
scrupulous  respect  for  ancient  forms,  and  that  aversion 
to  innovation,  which  are  conspicuous  in  popular  assem- 
blies. The  presence,  however,  of  their  prince,  the 

51  Marsollier,  Vie  de  Ximenes,  p.  447. — Gometius,  lib.  vii.  p.  206. 
etc. — Baudier,  Hist,  de  Ximenes,  ii.  p.  208. 
5*  Flechier,  Vie  de  Ximenes,  ii.  746. 


EMPEROR    CHARLES    THE    FIFTH. 


419 


address,  the  artifices,  and  the  threats  of  his  ministers, 
prevailed  on  them  at  last  to  proclaim  him  king,  in  con- 
junction with  his  mother,  whose  name  they  appointed 
to  be  placed  before  that  of  her  son  in  all  public  acts. 
But  when  they  made  this  concession  they  declared 
that  if  at  any  future  period  Joanna  should  recover  the 
exercise  of  reason,  the  whole  authority  should  return 
into  her  hands.  At  the  same  time,  they  voted  a  free 
gift  of  six  hundred  thousand  ducats,  to  be  paid  in 
three  years,  a  sum  more  considerable  than  had  ever 
been  granted  to  any  former  monarch.53 

Notwithstanding  this  obsequiousness  of  the  cortes  to 
the  will  of  the  king,  the  most  violent  symptoms  of 
dissatisfaction  with  his  government  began  to  break  out 
in  the  kingdom.  Chievres  had  acquired  over  the  mind 
of  the  young  monarch  the  ascendant  not  only  of  a  tutor, 
but  of  a  parent.  Charles  seemed  to  have  no  sentiments 
but  those  which  his  minister  inspired,  and  scarcely 
uttered  a  word  but  what  he  put  into  his  mouth.  He 
was  constantly  surrounded  by  Flemings ;  no  person  got 
access  to  him  without  their  permission ;  nor  was  any 
admitted  to  audience  but  in  their  presence.  As  he  spoke 
the  Spanish  language  very  imperfectly,  his  answers  were 
always  extremely  short,  and  often  delivered  with  hesi- 
tation. From  all  these  circumstances,  many  of  the 
Spaniards  were  led  to  believe  that  he  was  a  prince  of  a 
slow  and  narrow  genius.  Some  pretended  to  discover 
a  strong  resemblance  between  him  and  his  mother, 
and  began  to  whisper  that  his  capacity  for  government 
would  never  be  far  superior  to  hers ;  and  though  they 

53  Miniana,  Contin.,  lib.  i.  c.  3. — P.  Martyr.  Ep.,  608. — Sandoval, 
p.  12. 


420 


REIGN  OF  THE 


who  had  the  best  opportunity  of  judging  concerning 
his  character  maintained  that,  notwithstanding  such 
unpromising  appearances,  he  possessed  a  large  fund  of 
knowledge  as  well  as  of  sagacity,54  yet  all  agreed  in 
condemning  his  partiality  towards  the  Flemings,  and 
his  attachment  to  his  favorites,  as  unreasonable  and 
immoderate.  Unfortunately  for  Charles,  these  favor- 
ites were  unworthy  of  his  confidence.  To  amass 
wealth  seems  to  have  been  their  only  aim ;  and,  as 
they  had  reason  to  fear  that  either  their  master's  good 
sense  or  tiie  indignation  of  the  Spaniards  might  soon 
abridge  their  power,  they  hastened  to  improve  the 
present  opportunity,  and  their  avarice  was  the  more 
rapacious  because  they  expected  their  authority  to  be 
of  no  long  duration.  All  honors,  offices,  and  benefices 
were  either  engrossed  by  the  Flemings  or  publicly  sold 
by  them.  Chievres,  his  wife,  and  Sauvage,  whom 
Charles,  on  the  death  of  Ximenes,  had  imprudently 
raised  to  be  chancellor  of  Castile,  vied  with  each 
other  in  all  the  refinements  of  extortion  and  venality. 
Not  only  the  Spanish  historians,  who,  from  resentment, 
may  be  suspected  of  exaggeration,  but  Peter  Martyr 
Angleria,  an  Italian,  who  resided  at  that  time  in  the 
court  of  Spain  and  who  was  under  no  temptation  to 
deceive  the  persons  to  whom  his  letters  are  addressed, 
give  a  description  which  is  almost  incredible  of  the 
insatiable  and  shameless  covetousness  of  the  Flemings. 
According  to  Angleria's  calculation,  which  he  asserts 
to  be  extremely  moderate,  they  remitted  into  the  Low 
Countries,  in  the  space  of  ten  months,  no  less  a  sum 
than  a  million  and  one  hundred  thousand  ducats.  The 

54  Sandoval,  p.  31. — P.  Martyr.  Ep.,  655. 


EMPEROR    CHARLES    THE  FIFTH.  421 

nomination  of  William  de  Croy,  Chievres's  nephew,  a 
young  man  not  of  canonical  age,  to  the  archbishopric 
of  Toledo,  exasperated  the  Spaniards  more  than  all 
these  exactions.  They  considered  the  elevation  of  a 
stranger  to  the  head  of  their  Church  and  to  the  richest 
benefice  in  the  kingdom  not  only  as  an  injury,  but  as 
an  insult  to  the  whole  nation ;  both  clergy  and  laity, 
the  former  from  interest,  the  latter  from  indignation, 
joined  in  exclaiming  against  it.55 

Charles,  leaving  Castile  thus  disgusted  with  his 
administration,  set  out  for  Saragossa,  the  capital  of 
Aragon,  that  he  might  be  present  in  the  cortes  of  that 
kingdom.  On  his  .way  thither  he  took  leave  of  his 
brother  Ferdinand,  whom  he  sent  into  Germany  on  the 
pretence  of  visiting  their  grandfather,  Maximilian,  in 
his  old  age.  To  this  prudent  precaution  Charles  owed 
the  preservation  of  his  Spanish  dominions.  During 
the  violent  commotions  which  arose  there  soon  after 
this  period,  the  Spaniards  would  infallibly  have  offered 
the  crown  to  a  prince  who  was  the  darling  of  the  whole 
nation;  nor  did  Ferdinand  want  ambition,  or  coun- 
sellors, that  might  have  prompted  him  to  accept  of 
the  offer.56 

The  Aragonese  had  not  hitherto  acknowledged 
Charles  as  king,  nor  would  they  allow  the  cortes  to  be 
assembled  in  his  name,  but  in  that  of  the  justiza,  to 
whom  during  an  interregnum  this  privilege  belonged.37 
The  opposition  Charles  had  to  struggle  with  in  the 

ss  Sandoval,  pp.  28-31. — P.  Martyr.  Ep.,  608,  611,  613,  614,  622, 
623,  639. — Miniana,  Contin.,  lib.  i.  c.  3,  p.  8. 

56  P.  Martyr.  Ep.,  619. — Ferreras,  viii.  460. 

57  P.  Martyr.  Ep.,  605. 
Charles. — Vol.  I.  •j'i 


422  REIGN  OF  THE 

cortes  of  Aragon  was  more  violent  and  obstinate  than 
that  which  he  had  overcome  in  Castile :  after  long 
delays,  however,  and  with  much  difficulty,  he  persuaded 
the  members  to  confer  on  him  the  title  of  king,  in  con- 
junction with  his  mother.  At  the  same  time  he  bound 
himself,  by  that  solemn  oath  which  the  Aragonese  ex- 
acted of  their  kings,  never  to  violate  any  of  their  rights 
or  liberties.  When  a  donative  was  demanded,  the 
members  were  still  more  intractable ;  many  months 
elapsed  before  they  would  agree  to  grant  Charles  two 
hundred  thousand  ducats,  and  that  sum  they  appropri- 
ated so  strictly  for  paying  debts  of  the  crown,  which 
had  long  been  forgotten,  that  a  very  small  part  of  it 
came  into  the  king's  hands.  What  had  happened  in 
Castile  taught  them  caution,  and  determined  them 
rather  to  satisfy  the  claims  of  their  fellow-citizens, 
how  obsolete  soever,  than  to  furnish  strangers  the 
means  of  enriching  themselves  with  the  spoils  of  their 
country.58 

During  these  proceedings  of  the  cortes,  ambassadors 
arrived  at  Saragossa  from  Francis  I.  and  the  young 
king  of  Navarre,  demanding  the  restitution  of  that 
kingdom  in  terms  of  the  treaty  of  Noyon.  But  neither 
Charles,  nor  the  Castilian  nobles  whom  he  consulted 
on  this  occasion,  discovered  any  inclination  to  part 
with  this  acquisition.  A  conference  held  soon  after  at 
Montpellier,  in  order  to  bring  this  matter  to  an  amica- 
ble issue,  was  altogether  fruitless :  while  the  French 
urged  the  injustice  of  the  usurpation,  the  Spaniards 
were  attentive  only  to  its  importance.59 

58  P.  Martyr.  Ep.,  615-634. 

59  Ibid.,  605,  633,  640. 


EMPEROR    CHARLES   THE  FIFTH.  423 

From  Aragon,  Charles  proceeded  to  Catalonia,  where 
he  wasted  much  time,  encountered  more  difficulties, 
and  gained  less  money.  The  Flemings  were  now  be- 
come so  odious  in  every  province  of  Spain  by  their 
exactions  that  the  desire  of  mortifying  them  and  of 
disappointing  their  avarice  augmented  the  jealousy 
with  which  a  free  people  usually  conduct  their  de- 
liberations. 

The  Castilians,  who  had  felt  most  sensibly  the  weight 
and  rigor  of  the  oppressive  schemes  carried  on  by  the 
Flemings,  resolved  no  longer  to  submit  with  a  tameness 
fatal  to  themselves,  and  which  rendered  them  the  ob- 
jects of  scorn  to  their  fellow-subjects  in  the  other  king- 
doms of  which  the  Spanish  monarchy  was  composed. 
Segovia,  Toledo,  Seville,  and  several  other  cities  of  the 
first  rank,  entered  into  a  confederacy  for  the  defence 
of  their  rights  and  privileges ;  and,  notwithstanding 
the  silence  of  the  nobility,  who  on  this  occasion  dis- 
covered neither  the  public  spirit  nor  the  resolution 
which  became  their  order,  the  confederates  laid  before 
the  king  a  full  view  of  the  state  of  the  kingdom  and 
of  the  maladministration  of  his  favorites.  The  prefer- 
ment of  strangers,  the  exportation  of  the  current  coin, 
the  increase  of  taxes,  were  the  grievances  of  which 
they  chiefly  complained  ;  and  of  these  they  demanded 
redress  with  that  boldness  which  is  natural  to  a  free 
people.  These  remonstrances,  presented  at  first  at 
Saragossa,  and  renewed  afterwards  at  Barcelona,  Charles 
treated  with  great  neglect.  The  confederacy,  however, 
of  these  cities,  at  this  juncture,  was  the  beginning  of 
that  famous  union  among  the  commons  of  Castile, 
which  not  long  after  threw  the  kingdom  into  such  vio- 


424  REIGN  OF  THE 

lent  convulsions  as  shook  the  throne  and  almost  over- 
turned the  constitution.60 

Soon  after  Charles's  arrival  at  Barcelona  he  received 
the  account  of  an  event  which  interested  him  much 
more  than  the  murmurs  of  the  Castilians  or  the  scruples 
of  the  cortes  of  Catalonia.  This  was  the  death  of  the 
emperor  Maximilian, — an  occurrence  of  small  impor- 
tance in  itself,  for  he  was  a  prince  conspicuous  neither 
for  his  virtues,  nor  his  power,  nor  his  abilities,  but 
rendered  by  its  consequences  more  memorable  than 
any  that 'had  happened  during  several  ages.  It  broke 
that  profound  and  universal  peace  which  then  reigned 
in  the  Christian  world ;  it  excited  a  rivalship  between 
two  princes,  which  threw  all  Europe  into  agitation,  and 
kindled  wars  more  general  and  of  longer  duration  than 
had  hitherto  been  known  in  modern  times. 

The  revolutions  occasioned  by  the  expedition  of  the 
French  king,  Charles  VIII. ,  into  Italy,  had  inspired 
the  European  princes  with  new  ideas  concerning  the 
importance  of  the  imperial  dignity.  The  claims  of 
the  empire  upon  some  of  the  Italian  states  were  numer- 
ous; its  jurisdiction  over  others  was  extensive;  and 
though  the  former  had  been  almost  abandoned,  and  the 
latter  seldom  exercised,  under  princes  of  slender  abili- 
ties and  of  little  influence,  it  was  obvious  that  in  the 
hands  of  an  emperor  possessed  of  power  or  of  genius 
they  might  be  employed  as  engines  for  stretching  his 
dominion  over  the  greater  part  of  that  country.  Even 
Maximilian,  feeble  and  unsteady  as  his  conduct  always 
was,  had  availed  himself  of  the  infinite  pretensions 
of  the  empire,  and  had  reaped  advantage  from  every 

60  P.  Martyr.  Ep.,  630. — Ferreras,  viii.  464. 


EMPEROR  CHARLES  THE  FIFTH. 


425 


war  and  every  negotiation  in  Italy  during  his  reign. 
These  considerations,  added  to  the  dignity  of  the 
station,  confessedly  the  first  among  Christian  princes, 
and  to  the  rights  inherent  in  the  office,  which,  if  ex- 
erted with  vigor,  were  far  from  being  inconsiderable, 
rendered  the  imperial  crown  more  than  ever  an  object 
of  ambition. 

Not  long  before  his  death,  Maximilian  had  discovered 
great  solicitude  to  preserve  this  dignity  in  the  Austrian 
family,  and  to  procure  the  king  of  Spain  to  be  chosen 
his  successor.  But  he  himself  having  never  been 
crowned  by  the  pope,  a  ceremony  deemed  essential  in 
that  age,  was  considered  only  as  emperor  elect.  Though 
historians  have  not  attended  to  that  distinction,  neither 
the  Italian  nor  German  chancery  bestowed  uny  other 
title  upon  him  than  that  of  King  of  the  Romans ;  and, 
no  example  occurring  in  history  of  any  person's  being 
chosen  a  successor  to  a  king  of  the  Romans,  the  Ger- 
mans, always  tenacious  of  their  forms,  and  unwilling 
to  confer  upon  Charles  an  office  for  which  their  con- 
stitution knew  no  name,  obstinately  refused  to  gratify 
Maximilian  in  that  point.61 

By  his  death  this  difficulty  was  at  once  removed,  and 
Charles  openly  aspired  to  that  dignity  which  his  grand- 
father had  attempted,  without  success,  to  secure  for 
him.  At  the  same  time,  Francis  I.,  a  powerful  rival, 
entered  the  lists  against  him  ;  and  the  attention  of  all 
Europe  was  fixed  upon  this  competition,  no  less  illus- 
trious from  the  high  rank  of  the  candidates  than  from 

61  Guicciardini,  lib.  xiii.  p.  15. — Hist,  gener.  d'Allemagne,  par  P. 
Barre,  torn.  viii.  part,  i,  p.  1087. — P.  Heuter.,  Rer.  Austr.,  lib.  vii.  c. 
17,  p.  179,  lib.  viii.  c.  2,  p.  183. 

36* 


426  REIG.V  OF   THE 

the  importance  of  the  prize  for  which  they  contended. 
Each  of  them  urged  his  pretensions  with  sanguine 
expectations  and  with  no  unpromising  prospect  of 
success.  Charles  considered  the  imperial  crown  as 
belonging  to  him  of  right,  from  its  long  continuance 
in  the  Austrian  line ;  he  knew  that  none  of  the  German 
princes  possessed  power  or  influence  enough  to  appear 
as  his  antagonist ;  he  flattered  himself  that  no  consid- 
eration would  induce  the  natives  of  Germany  to  exalt 
any  foreign  prince  to  a  dignity  which  during  so  many 
ages  had  been  deemed  peculiar  to  their  own  nation, 
and  least  of  all  that  they  would  confer  this  honor  upon 
Francis  I.,  the  sovereign  of  a  people  whose  genius  and 
laws  and  manners  differed  so  widely  from  those  of  the 
Germans  that  it  was  hardly  possible  to  establish  any 
cordial  union  between  them ;  he  trusted  not  a  little  to 
the  effect  of  Maximilian's  negotiations,  which,  though 
they  did  not  attain  their  ends,  had  prepared  the  minds 
of  the  Germans  for  his  elevation  to  the  imperial  throne; 
but  what  he  relied  on  as  a  chief  recommendation  was 
the  fortunate  situation  of  his  hereditary  dominions  in 
Germany,  which  served  as  a  natural  barrier  to  the  em- 
pire against  the  encroachments  of  the  Turkish  power. 
The  conquests,  the  abilities,  and  the  ambition  of  Sultan 
Selim  II.  had  spread  over  Europe,  at  that  time,  a  gen- 
eral and  well-founded  alarm.  By  his  victories  over  the 
Mamelukes,  and  the  extirpation  of  that  gallant  body  of 
men,  he  had  not  only  added  Egypt  and  Syria  to  his 
empire,  but  had  secured  to  it  such  a  degree  of  internal 
tranquillity  that  he  was  ready  to  turn  against  Christen- 
dom the  whole  force  of  his  arms,  which  nothing  hitherto 
had  been  able  to  resist.  The  most  effectual  expedient 


EMPEROR    CHARLES    THE   FIFTH. 


427 


for  stopping  the  progress  of  this  torrent  seemed  to  be 
the  election  of  an  emperor  possessed  of  extensive  terri- 
tories in  that  country  where  its  first  impression  would 
'be  felt,  and  who,  besides,  could  combat  this  formida- 
ble enemy  with  all  the  forces  of  a  powerful  monarchy 
and  with  all  the  wealth  furnished  by  the  mines  of  the 
New  World  or  the  commerce  of  the  Low  Countries. 
These  were  the  arguments  by  which  Charles  publicly 
supported  his  claim;  and  to  men  of  integrity  and 
reflection  they  appeared  to  be  not  only  plausible,  but 
convincing.  He  did  not,  however,  trust  the  success 
of  his  cause  to  these  alone.  Great  sums  of  money  were 
remitted  from  Spain ;  all  the  refinements  and  artifices 
of  negotiation  were  employed ;  and  a  considerable  body 
of  troops,  kept  on  foot  at  that  time  by  the  states  of  the 
circle  of  Suabia,  was  secretly  taken  into  his  pay.  The 
venal  were  gained  by  presents;  the  objections  of  the 
more  scrupulous  were  answered  or  eluded;  some  feeble 
princes  were  threatened  and  overawed.62 

On  the  other  hand,  Francis  supported  his  claim  with 
equal  eagerness  and  no  less  confidence  of  its  being 
well  founded.  His  emissaries  contended  that  it  was 
now  high  time  to  convince  the  princes  of  the  house  of 
Austria  that  the  imperial  crown  was  elective,  and  not 
hereditary ;  that  other  persons  might  aspire  to  an  honor 
which  their  arrogance  had  accustomed  them  to  regard 
as  the  property  of  their  family  ;  that  it  required  a  sov- 
ereign of  mature  judgment  and  of  approved  abilities  to 
hold  the  reins  of  government  in  a  country  where  such 
unknown  opinions  concerning  religion  had  been  pub- 

62  Guicc.,  lib.  xiii.  p.  159. — Sleidan,  History  of  the  Reformation, 
14. — Struvii,  Corp.  Hist.  German.,  ii.  971,  not.  20. 


428  REIGN  OF  THE 

lished  as  had  thrown  the  minds  of  men  into  an  un- 
common agitation,  which  threatened  the  most  violent 
effects ;  that  a  young  prince,  without  experience,  and 
who  had  hitherto  given  no  specimens  of  his  genius  for 
command,  was  no  fit  match  for  Selim,  a  monarch  grown 
old  in  the  art  of  war  and  in  course  of  victory ;  whereas 
a  king  who  in  his  early  youth  had  triumphed  over  the 
valor  and  discipline  of  the  Swiss,  till  then  reckoned 
m vincible,  would  be  an  antagonist  not  unworthy  the 
conqueror  of  the  East;  that  the  fire  and  impetuosity 
of  the  French  cavalry,  added  to  the  discipline  and 
stability  of  the  German  infantry,  would  form  an  army 
so  irresistible  that  instead  of  waiting  the  approach  of 
the  Ottoman  forces  it  might  carry  hostilities  into  the 
heart  of  their  dominions;  that  the  election  of  Charles 
would  be  inconsistent  with  a  fundamental  constitution, 
by  which  the  person  who  holds  the  crown  of  Naples  is 
excluded  from  aspiring  to  the  imperial  dignity ;  that 
his  elevation  to  that  honor  would  soon  kindle  a  war  in 
Italy,  on  account  of  his  pretensions  to  the  duchy  of 
Milan,  the  effects  of  which  could  not  fail  of  reaching 
the  empire  and  might  prove  fatal  to  it.63  But  while 
the  French  ambassadors  enlarged  upon  these  and  other 
topics  of  the  same  kind  in  all  the  courts  of  Germany, 
Francis,  sensible  of  the  prejudices  entertained  against 
him  as  a  foreigner,  unacquainted  with  the  German  lan- 
guage or  manners,  endeavored  to  overcome  these,  and 
to  gain  the  favor  of  the  princes,  by  immense  gifts  and 
by  infinite  promises.  As  the  expeditious  method  of 
transmitting  money,  and  the  decent  mode  of  conveying 

*3  Guicc.,  lib.  xiii.  p.  160. — Sleid.,  p.  16. — Geor.  Sabini  de  Elect. 
Car.  V. — Historia  apud  Scardii  Script.  Rer.  German.,  vol.  ii.  p.  4. 


EMPEROR    CHARLES    THE  FIFTH.  429 

a  bribe,  by  bills  of  exchange,  were  then  little  known, 
the  French  ambassadors  travelled  with  a  train  of  horses 
loaded  with  treasure,  an  equipage  not  very  honorable 
for  that  prince  by  whom  they  were  employed,  and  in- 
famous for  those  to  whom  they  were  sent.64 

The  other  European  princes  could  not  remain  indif- 
ferent spectators  of  a  contest  the  decision  of  which 
so  nearly  affected  every  one  of  them.  Their  common 
interest  ought  naturally  to  have  formed  a  general  com- 
bination, in  order  to  disappoint  both  competitors  and 
to  prevent  either  of  them  from  obtaining  such  a 
pre-eminence  in  power  and  dignity  as  might  prove 
dangerous  to  the  liberties  of  Europe.  But  the  ideas 
with  respect  to  a  proper  distribution  and  balance  of 
power  were  so  lately  introduced  into  the  system  of 
European  policy  that  they  were  not  hitherto  objects 
of  sufficient  attention.  The  passions  of  some  princes, 
the  want  of  foresight  in  others,  and  the  fear  of  giving 
offence  to  the  candidates,  hindered  such  a  salutary 
union  of  the  powers  of  Europe,  and  rendered  them 
either  totally  negligent  of  the  public  safety  or  kept 
them  from  exerting  "themselves  with  vigor  in  its  behalf. 

The  Swiss  cantons,  though  they  dreaded  the  eleva- 
tion of  either  of  the  contending  monarchs,  and  though 
they  wished  to  have  seen  some  prince  whose  dominions 
were  less  extensive,  and  whose  power  was  more  moder- 
ate, seated  on  the  imperial  throne,  were  prompted, 
however,  by  their  hatred  of  the  French  nation,  to  give 
an  open  preference  to  the  pretensions  of  Charles,  while 
they  used  their  utmost  influence  to  frustrate  those  of 
Francis.65 

*4  Memoires  du  Marechal  de  Fleuranges,  p.  296. 
's  Sabinus,  p.  6. 


430  REIGN  OF  THE 

The  Venetians  easily  discerned  that  it  was  the  in- 
terest of  their  republic  to  have  both  the  rivals  set 
aside;  but  their  jealousy  of  the  house  of  Austria,  whose 
ambition  and  neighborhood  had  been  fatal  to  their 
grandeur,  would  not  permit  them  to  act  up  to  their 
own  ideas,  and  led  them  hastily  to  give  the  sanction 
of  their  approbation  to  the  claim  of  the  French  king. 

It  was  equally  the  interest,  and  more  in  the  power, 
of  Henry  VIII.  of  England  to  prevent  either  Francis 
or  Charles  from  acquiring  a  dignity  which  would  raise 
them  so  far  above  other  monarchs.  But,  though  Henry 
often  boasted  that  he  held  the  balance  of  Europe  in  his 
hands,  he  had  neither  the  steady  attention,  the  accurate 
discernment,  nor  the  dispassionate  temper  which  that 
delicate  function  required.  On  this  occasion  it  morti- 
fied his  vanity  so  much,  to  think  that  he  had  not  en- 
tered early  into  that  noble  competition  which  reflected 
such  honor  upon  the  two  antagonists,  that  he  took  a 
resolution  of  sending  an  ambassador  into  Germany 
and  of  declaring  himself  a  candidate  for  the  imperial 
throne.  The  ambassador,  though  loaded  with  caresses 
by  the  German  princes  and  the  pope's  nuncio,  in- 
formed his  master  that  he  could  hope  for  no  success 
in  a  claim  which  he  had  been  so  late  in  preferring. 
Henry,  imputing  his  disappointment  to  that  circum- 
stance alone,  and  soothed  with  this  ostentatious  display 
of  his  own  importance,  seems  to  have  taken  no  further 
part  in  the  matter,  either  by  contributing  to  thwart 
both  his  rivals  or  to  promote  one  of  them.66 

Leo  X.,  a  pontiff  no  less  renowned  for  his  political 
abilities  than  for  his  love  of  the  arts,  was  the  only 

66  Memoires  de  Fleuranges,  314. — Herbert,  History  of  Henry  VIII. 


EMPEROR  CHARLES  THE  FIFTH. 


431 


prince  of  the  age  who  observed  the  motions  of  the  two 
contending  monarchs  with  a  prudent  attention  or  who 
discovered  a  proper  solicitude  for  the  public  safety. 
The  imperial  and  papal  jurisdiction  interfered  in  so 
many  instances,  the  complaints  of  usurpation  were  so 
numerous  on  both  sides,  and  the  territories  of  the 
Church  owed  their  security  so  little  to  their  own  force 
and  so  much  to  the  weakness  of  the  powers  around 
them,  that  nothing  was  so  formidable  to  the  court  of 
Rome  as  an  emperor  with  extensive  dominions  or  of 
enterprising  genius.  Leo  trembled  at  the  prospect  of 
beholding  the  imperial  crown  placed  on  the  head  of 
the  king  of  Spain  and  of  Naples  and  the  master  of  the 
New  World ;  nor  was  he  less  afraid  of  seeing  a  king 
of  France,  who  was  duke  of  Milan  and  lord  of  Genoa, 
exalted  to  that  dignity.  He  foretold  that  the  election 
of  either  of  them  would  be  fatal  to  the  independence 
of  the  holy  see,  to  the  peace  of  Italy,  and  perhaps  to 
the  liberties  of  Europe.  But  to  oppose  them  with  any 
prospect  of  success  required  address  and  caution  in 
proportion  to  the  greatness  of  their  power  and  their 
opportunities  of  taking  revenge.  Leo  was  defective  in 
neither.  He  secretly  exhorted  the  German  princes  to 
place  one  of  their  own  number  on  the  imperial  throne, 
which  many  of  them  were  capable  of  filling  with 
honor.  He  put  them  in  mind  of  the  constitution  by 
which  the  kings  of  Naples  were  forever  excluded  from 
that  dignity.67  He  warmly  exhorted  the  French  king 
to  persist  in  his  claim,  not  from  any  desire  that  he 
should  gain  his  end,  but,  as  he  foresaw  that  the  Ger- 
mans would  be  more  disposed  to  favor  the  king  of 

67  Goldasti  Constitutiones  Imperiales,  Francof.,  1763,  vol.  i.  p.  439. 


432 


REIGN  OF 


Spain,  he  hoped  that  Francis  himself,  when  he  discov- 
ered his  own  chance  of  success  to  be  desperate,  would 
be  stimulated  by  resentment  and  the  spirit  of  rivalship 
to  concur  with  all  his  interest  in  raising  some  third 
person  to  the  head  of  the  empire;  or,  on  the  other 
hand,  if  Francis  should  make  an  unexpected  progress, 
he  did  not  doubt  but  that  Charles  would  be  induced, 
by  similar  motives,  to  act  the  same  part ;  and  thus,  by 
a  prudent  attention,  the  mutual  jealousy  of  the  two 
rivals  might  be  so  dexterously  managed  as  to  disappoint 
both.  But  this  scheme,  the  only  one  which  a  prince 
in  Leo's  situation  could  adopt,  though  concerted  with 
great  wisdom,  was  executed  with  little  discretion.  The 
French  ambassadors  in  Germany  fed  their  master  with 
vain  hopes;  the  pope's  nuncio,  being  gained  by  them, 
altogether  forgot  the  instructions  which  he  had  re- 
ceived ;  and  Francis  persevered  so  long  and  with  such 
obstinacy  in  urging  his  own  pretensions  as  rendered 
all  Leo's  measures  abortive.68 

Such  were  the  hopes  of  the  candidates,  and  the 
views  of  the  different  princes,  when  the  diet  was 
opened  according  to  form  at  Frankfort.  The  right  of 
choosing  an  emperor  had  long  been  vested  in  seven 
great  princes,  distinguished  by  the  name  of  electors, 
the  origin  of  whose  office,  as  well  as  the  nature  and 
extent  of  their  powers,  have  already  been  explained. 
These  were,  at  that  time,  Albert  of  Brandenburg, 
archbishop  of  Mentz ;  Herman  Count  de  Wied,  arch- 
bishop of  Cologne ;  Richard  de  Greiffenklau,  arch- 
bishop of  Triers ;  Lewis,  king  of  Bohemia ;  Lewis, 
count  palatine  of  the  Rhine ;  Frederic,  duke  of  Sax- 

68  Guicciar.,  lib.  xiii.  161. 


EMPEROR    CHARLES    THE  FIFTH. 


433 


ony;  and  Joachim  I.,  marquis  of  Brandenburg.  Not- 
withstanding the  artful  arguments  produced  by  the 
ambassadors  of  the  two  kings  in  favor  of  their  respect- 
ive masters,  and  in  spite  of  all  their  solicitations, 
intrigues,  and  presents,  the  electors  did  not  forget  that 
maxim  on  which  the  liberty  of  the  German  constitu- 
tion was  thought  to  be  founded.  Among  the  members 
of  the  Germanic  body,  which  is  a  great  republic  com- 
posed of  states  almost  independent,  the  first  principle 
of  patriotism  is  to  depress  and  limit  the  power  of  the 
emperor;  and  of  this  idea,  so  natural  under  such  a 
form  of  government,  a  German  politician  seldom  loses 
sight.  No  prince  of  considerable  power  or  extensive 
dominions  had  for  some  ages  been  raised  to  the  im- 
perial throne.  To  this  prudent  precaution  many  of 
the  great  families  in  Germany  owed  the  splendor  and 
independence  which  they  had  acquired  during  that 
period.  To  elect  either  of  the  contending  monarchs 
would  have  been  a  gross  violation  of  that  salutary 
maxim,  would  have  given  to  the  empire  a  master  in- 
stead of  a  head,  and  would  have  reduced  themselves 
from  the  rank  of  being  almost  his  equals  to  the  condi- 
tion of  his  subjects. 

Full  of  these  ideas,  all  the  electors  turned  their  eyes 
towards  Frederic,  duke  of  Saxony,  a  prince  of  such 
eminent  virtue  and  abilities  as  to  be  distinguished  by 
the  name  of  the  sage,  and  with  one  voice  they  offered 
him  the  imperial  crown.  He  was  not  dazzled  with 
that  object,  which  monarchs  so  far  superior  to  him  in 
power  courted  with  such  eagerness ;  and,  after  de- 
liberating upon  the  matter  a  short  time,  he  rejected 
it  with  a  magnanimity  and  disinterestedness  no  less 
Philip. — VOL.  I. — T  37 


434 


REIGN  OF  THE 


singular  than  admirable.  "Nothing,"  he  observed, 
"could  be  more  impolitic  than  an  obstinate  adherence 
to  a  maxim  which,  though  sound  and  just  in  many 
cases,  was  not  applicable  to  all.  In  times  of  tran- 
quillity," said  he,  "we  wish  for  an  emperor  who  has 
not  power  to  invade  our  liberties;  times  of  danger 
demand  one  who  is  able  to  secure  our  safety.  The 
Turkish  armies,  led  by  a  gallant  and  victorious  mon- 
arch, are  now  assembling.  They  are  ready  to  pour  in 
upon  Germany  with  a  violence  unknown  in  former 
ages.  New  conjunctures  call  for  new  expedients.  The 
imperial  sceptre  must  be  committed  to  some  hand 
more  powerful  than  mine  or  that  of  any  other  German 
prince.  We  possess  neither  dominions,  nor  revenues, 
nor  authority,  which  enable  us  to  encounter  such  a 
formidable  enemy.  Recourse  must  be  had  in  this 
exigency  to  one  of  the  rival  monarchs.  Each  of  them 
can  bring  into  the  field  forces  sufficient  for  our  de- 
fence. But  as  the  king  of  Spain  is  of  German  extrac- 
tion, as  he  is  a  member  and  prince  of  the  empire  by 
the  territories  which  descend  to  him  from  his  grand- 
father, as  his  dominions  stretch  along  that  frontier 
which  lies  most  exposed  to  the  enemy,  his  claim  is 
preferable,  in  my  opinion,  to  that  of  a  stranger  to 
our  language,  to  our  blood,  and  to  our  country;  and 
therefore  I  give  my  vote  to  confer  on  him  the  imperial 
crown." 

This  opinion,  dictated  by  such  uncommon  gener- 
osity and  supported  by  arguments  so  plausible,  made  a 
deep  impression  on  the  electors.  The  king  of  Spain's 
ambassadors,  sensible  of  the  important  service  which 
Frederic  had  done  their  master,  sent  him  a  consider- 


EMPEROR   CHARLES   THE  FIFTH. 


435 


able  sum  of  money,  as  the  first  token  of  that  prince's 
gratitude.  But  he  who  had  greatness  of  mind  to  refuse 
a  crown  disdained  to  receive  a  bribe ;  and,  upon  their 
entreating  that  at  least  he  would  permit  them  to  dis- 
tribute part  of  that  sum  among  his  attendants,  he 
replied  that  he  could  not  prevent  them  from  accepting 
what  should  be  offered,  but  whoever  took  a  single 
florin  should  be  dismissed  next  morning  from  his 
service.69 

No  prince  in  Germany  could  now  aspire  to  a  dignity 
which  Frederic  had  declined,  for  reasons  applicable  to 
them  all.  It  remained  to  make  a  choice  between  the 
two  great  competitors.  But  besides  the  prejudice  in 
Charles's  favor  arising  from  his  birth,  as  well  as  the 
situation  of  his  German  dominions,  he  owed  not  a 
little  to  the  abilities  of  the  Cardinal  de  Gurk,  and  the 
zeal  of  Erard  de  la  Mark,  bishop  of  Liege,  two  of  his 
ambassadors,  who  had  conducted  their  negotiations 

69  P.  Daniel,  an  historian  of  considerable  name,  seems  to  call  in 
question  the  truth  of  this  account  of  Frederic's  behavior  in  refusing 
the  imperial  crown,  because  it  is  not  mentioned  by  Georgius  Sabinus 
in  his  History  of  the  Election  and  Coronation  of  Charles  V.,  torn.  iii. 
p.  63.  But  no  great  stress  ought  to  be  laid  on  an  omission  in  a  super- 
ficial author,  whose  treatise,  though  dignified  with  the  name  of  History, 
contains  only  such  an  account  of  the  ceremonial  of  Charles's  election 
as  is  usually  published  in  Germany  on  like  occasions.  (Scard.  Rer. 
Germ.  Script.,  vol.  ii.  p.  i.)  The  testimony  of  Erasmus,  lib.  xiii.  epist. 
4,  and  that  of  Sleidan,  p.  18,  are  express.  Seckendorf,  in  his  Com- 
mentarius  Historicus  et  Apologeticus  de  Lutheranismo,  p.  121,  has 
examined  this  fact  with  his  usual  industry,  and  has  established  its 
truth  by  the  most  undoubted  evidence.  To  these  testimonies  which 
he  has  collected,  I  may  add  the  decisive  one  of  Cardinal  Cajetan,  the 
pope's  legate  at  Frankfort,  in  his  letter,  July  5th,  1519.  Epistres  des 
Princes,  &c.,  recueillies  par  Ruscelli,  traduictes  par  Belforest,  Par., 
1572,  p.  60. 


436  REIGN  OF  THE 

with  more  prudence  and  address  than  those  intrusted 
by  the  French  king.  The  former,  who  had  long  been 
the  minister  and  favorite  of  Maximilian,  was  well  ac- 
quainted with  the  art  of  managing  the  Germans ;  and 
the  latter,  having  been  disappointed  of  a  cardinal's  hat 
by  Francis,  employed  all  the  malicious  ingenuity  with 
which  the  desire  for  revenge  inspires  an  ambitious 
mind,  in  thwarting  the  measures  of  that  monarch. 
The  Spanish  party  among  the  electors  daily  gained 
ground ;  and  even  the  pope's  nuncio,  being  convinced 
that  it  was  vain  to  make  any  further  opposition,  endeav- 
ored to  acquire  some  merit  with  the  future  emperor,  by 
offering  voluntarily,  in  the  name  of  his  master,  a  dis- 
pensation to  hold  the  imperial  crown  in  conjunction 
with  that  of  Naples.70 

On  the  28th  of  June,  five  months  and  ten  days  after 
the  death  of  Maximilian,  this  important  contest,  which 
had  held  all  Europe  in  suspense,  was  decided.  Six  of 
the  electors  had  already  declared  for  the  king  of  Spain ; 
and  the  archbishop  of  Triers,  the  only  firm  adherent  to 
the  French  interest,  having  at  last  joined  his  brethren, 
Charles  was,  by  the  unanimous  voice  of  the  electoral 
college,  raised  to  the  imperial  throne.71 

But  though  the  electors  consented,  from  various 
motives,  to  promote  Charles  to  that  high  station,  they 
discovered  at  the  same  time  great  jealousy  of  his  ex- 
traordinary power,  and  endeavored,  with  the  utmost 
solicitude,  to  provide  against  his  encroaching  on  the 
privileges  of  the  Germanic  body.  It  had  long  been 

7°  Freheri  Rer.  German.  Scriptores,  vol.  iii.  172,  cur.  Struvii,  Argent., 
1717. — Giannone,  Hist,  of  Naples,  ii.  498. 
71  Jac.  Aug.  Thuan.,  Hist,  sui  Temporis,  edit.  Bulkley,  lib.  i.  c.  9. 


EMPEROR  CHARLES  THE  FIFTH. 


437 


the  custom  to  demand  of  every  new  emperor  a  con- 
firmation of  these  privileges,  and  to  require  a  promise 
that  he  never  would  violate  them  in  any  instance. 
While  princes  who  were  formidable  neither  from  extent 
of  territory  nor  of  genius  possessed  the  imperial  throne, 
a  general  and  verbal  engagement  to  this  purpose  was 
deemed  sufficient  security.  But,  under  an  emperor  so 
powerful  as  Charles,  other  precautions  seemed  neces- 
sary. A  capitulation,  or  claim  of  right,  was  formed,  in 
which  the  privileges  and  immunities  of  the  electors,  of 
the  princes  of  the  empire,  of  the  cities,  and  of  every  other 
member  of  the  Germanic  body,  are  enumerated.  This 
capitulation  was  immediately  signed  by  Charles's  am- 
bassadors in  the  name  of  their  master,  and  he  himself, 
at  his  coronation,  confirmed  it  in  the  most  solemn 
manner.  Since  that  period,  the  electors  have  continued 
to  prescribe  the  same  conditions  to  all  his  successors ; 
and  the  capitulation,  or  mutual  contract  between  the 
emperor  and  his  subjects,  is  considered  in  Germany  as 
a  strong  barrier  against  the  progress  of  the  imperial 
power,  and  as  the  great  charter  of  their  liberties,  to 
which  they  often  appeal.72 

The  important  intelligence  of  his  election  was  con- 
veyed in  nine  days  from  Frankfort  to  Barcelona,  where 
Charles  was  still  detained  by  the  obstinacy  of  the  Cata- 
lonian  cortes,  which  had  not  hitherto  brought  to  an 
issue  any  of  the  aifairs  which  came  before  it.  He  re- 
ceived the  account  with  the  joy  natural  to  a  young  and 
aspiring  mind  on  an  accession  of  power  and  dignity 
which  raised  him  so  far  above  the  other  princes  of 

7»  Pfeffel,  Abrege  de  1'Histoire  du  Droit  publique  d'AHemagne,  590. 
— Limnei  Capitulat.  Imp. —  Epistres  des  Princes  par  Ruscelli,  p.  60. 
37* 


438  REIGN  OF  THE 

Europe.  Then  it  was  that  those  vast  prospects  which 
allured  him  during  his  whole  administration  began  to 
open,  and  from  this  era  we  may  date  the  formation, 
and  are  able  to  trace  the  gradual  progress,  of  a  grand 
system  of  enterprising  ambition,  which  renders  the 
history  of  his  reign  so  worthy  of  attention. 

A  trivial  circumstance  first  discovered  the  effects  of 
this  great  elevation  on  the  mind  of  Charles.  In  all  the 
public  writs  which  he  now  issued  as  king  of  Spain,  he 
assumed  the  title  of  majesty,  and  required  it  from  his 
subjects  as  a  mark  of  their  respect.  Before  that  time, 
all  the  monarchs  of  Europe  were  satisfied  with  the 
appellation  of  highness  or  grace ;  but  the  vanity  of 
other  courts  soon  led  them  to  imitate  the  example  of 
the  Spanish.  The  epithet  of  majesty  is  no  longer  a 
mark  of  pre-eminence.  The  most  inconsiderable  mon- 
archs in  Europe  enjoy  it,  and  the  arrogance  of  the 
greater  potentates  has  invented  no  higher  denomina- 
tions.73 

The  Spaniards  were  far  from  viewing  the  promotion 
of  their  king  to  the  imperial  throne  with  the  same 
satisfaction  which  he  himself  felt.  To  be  deprived  of 
the  presence  of  their  sovereign,  and  to  be  subjected  to 
the  government  of  a  viceroy  and  his  council,  a  species 
of  administration  often  oppressive  and  always  disagree- 
able, were  the  immediate  and  necessary  consequences 
of  this  new  dignity.  To  see  the  blood  of  their  coun- 
trymen shed  in  quarrels  wherein  the  nation  had  no 
concern,  to  behold  its  treasures  wasted  in  supporting 
the  splendor  of  a  foreign  title,  to  be  plunged  in  the 

73  Minianse  Contin.  Mar.,  p.  13. — Ferreras,  viii.  475. — Memoires 
Hist,  de  la  Houssaie,  torn.  i.  p.  53,  etc. 


EMPEROR   CHARLES    THE  FIFTH.          439 

chaos  of  Italian  and  German  politics,  were  effects  of 
this  event  almost  as  unavoidable.  From  all  these  con- 
siderations, they  concluded  that  nothing  could  have 
happened  more  pernicious  to  the  Spanish  nation ;  and 
the  fortitude  and  public  spirit  of  their  ancestors,  who, 
in  the  cortes  of  Castile,  prohibited  Alphonso  the  Wise 
from  leaving  the  kingdom  in  order  to  receive  the  im- 
perial crown,  were  often  mentioned  with  the  highest 
praise,  and  pronounced  to  be  extremely  worthy  of 
imitation  at  this  juncture.74 

But  Charles,  without  regarding  the  sentiments  or 
murmurs  of  his  Spanish  subjects,  accepted  of  the  im- 
perial dignity  which  the  count  palatine,  at  the  head  of 
a  solemn  embassy,  offered  him  in  the  name  of  the 
electors,  and  declared  his  intention  of  setting  out  soon 
for  Germany  in  order  to  take  possession  of  it.  This 
was  the  more  necessary  because,  according  to  the 
forms  of  the  German  constitution,  he  could  not,  before 
the  ceremony  of  a  public  coronation,  exercise  any  act 
of  jurisdiction  or  authority.75 

Their  certain  knowledge  of  this  resolution  augmented 
so  much  the  disgust  of  the  Spaniards  that  a  sullen  and 
refractory  spirit  prevailed  among  persons  of  all  ranks. 
The  pope  having  granted  the  king  the  tenths  of  all 
ecclesiastical  benefices  in  Castile,  to  assist  him  in  carry- 
ing on  war  with  greater  vigor  against  the  Turks,  a  con- 
vocation of  the  clergy  unanimously  refused  to  levy  that 
sum,  upon  pretence  that  it  ought  never  to  be  exacted 
but  at  those  times  when  Christendom  was  actually  in- 
vaded by  the  infidels;  and  though  Leo,  in  order  to 

74  Sandoval,  i.  p.  32. — Minianae  Contin.,  p.  14. 

75  Sabinus,  P.  Barre,  viii.  1085. 


440 


REIGN  OF  THE 


support  his  authority,  laid  the  kingdom  under  an  in- 
terdict, so  little  regard  was  paid  to  a  censure  which  was 
universally  deemed  unjust,  that  Charles  himself  applied 
to  have  it  taken  off.  Thus  the  Spanish  clergy,  besides 
their  merit  in  opposing  the  usurpations  of  the  pope  and 
disregarding  the  influence  of  the  crown,  gained  the 
exemption  which  they  had  claimed.76 

The  commotions  which  arose  in  the  kingdom  of 
Valencia,  annexed  to  the  crown  of  Aragon,  were  more 
formidable,  and  produced  more  dangerous  and  lasting 
effects.  A  seditious  monk  having  by  his  sermons  ex- 
cited the  citizens  of  Valencia,  the  capital  city,  to  take 
arms,  and  to  punish  certain  criminals  in  a  tumultuary 
manner,  the  people,  pleased  with  this  exercise  of  power, 
and  with  such  a  discovery  of  their  own  importance, 
not  only  refused  to  lay  down  their  arms,  but  formed 
themselves  into  troops  and  companies,  that  they  might 
be  regularly  trained  to  martial  exercises.  To  obtain 
some  security  against  the  oppression  of  the  grandees 
was  the  motive  of  this  association,  and  proved  a  power- 
ful bond  of  union ;  for  as  the  aristocratical  privileges 
and  independence  were  more  complete  in  Valencia 
than  in  any  other  of  the  Spanish  kingdoms,  the  nobles, 
being  scarcely  accountable  for  their  conduct  to  any 
superior,  treated  the  people  not  only  as  vassals  but  as 
slaves.  They  were  alarmed,  however,  at  the  progress 
of  this  unexpected  insurrection,  as  it  might  encourage 
the  people  to  attempt  shaking  off  the  yoke  altogether ; 
but,  as  they  could  not  repress  them  without  taking  arms, 
it  became  necessary  to  have  recourse  to  the  emperor, 
and  to  desire  his  permission  to  attack  them.  At  the 

T6  P.  Martyr.  Ep.,  462. — Ferreras,  viii.  473. 


EMPEROR    CHARLES   THE  FIFTH.  44 1 

same  time  the  people  made  choice  of  deputies  to  repre- 
sent their  grievances  and  to  implore  the  protection  of 
their  sovereign.  Happily  for  the  latter,  they  arrived  at 
court  when  Charles  was  exasperated  to  a  high  degree 
against  the  nobility.  As  he  was  eager  to  visit  Germany, 
where  his  presence  became  every  day  more  necessary, 
and  as  his  Flemish  courtiers  were  still  more  impatient 
to  return  into  their  native  country,  that  they  might 
carry  thither  the  spoils  which  they  had  amassed  in  Cas- 
tile, it  was  impossible  for  him  to  hold  the  cortes  of 
Valencia  in  person.  He  had  for  that  reason  empow- 
ered the  Cardinal  Adrian  to  represent  him  in  that 
assembly,  and  in  his  name  to  receive  their  oath  of 
allegiance,  to  confirm  their  privileges  with  the  usual 
solemnities,  and  to  demand  of  them  a  free  gift.  But 
the  Valencian  nobles,  who  considered  this  measure  as 
an  indignity  to  their  country,  which  was  no  less  entitled 
than  his  other  kingdoms  to  the  honor  of  their  sove- 
reign's presence,  declared  that  by  the  fundamental  laws 
of  the  constitution  they  could  neither  acknowledge  as 
king  a  person  who  was  absent,  nor  grant  him  any  sub- 
sidy; and  to  this  declaration  they  adhered  with  a 
haughty  and  inflexible  obstinacy.  Charles,  piqued  by 
their  behavior,  decided  in  favor  of  the  people,  and 
rashly  authorized  them  to  continue  in  arms.  Their 
deputies  returned  in  triumph,  and  were  received  by 
their  fellow-citizens  as  the  deliverers  of  their  country. 
The  insolence  of  the  multitude  increasing  with  their 
success,  they  expelled  all  the  nobles  out  of  the  city, 
committed  the  government  to  magistrates  of  their  own 
election,  and  entered  into  an  association,  distinguished 
by  the  name  of  gcrmanada  or  brotherhood,  which  proved 
T* 


442  REIGN  OF  THE 

the  source  not  only  of  the  wildest  disorders,  but  of 
the  most  fatal  calamities,  in  that  kingdom.77 

Meanwhile,  the  kingdom  of  Castile  was  agitated  with 
no  less  violence.  No  sooner  was  the  emperor's  intention 
to  leave  Spain  made  known,  than  several  cities  of  the 
first  rank  resolved  to  remonstrate  against  it,  and  to  crave 
redress  once  more  of  those  grievances  which  they  had 
formerly  laid  before  him.  Charles  artfully  avoided  ad- 
mitting their  deputies  to  audience ;  and,  as  he  saw  from 
this  circumstance  how  difficult  it  would  be  at  this  junc- 
ture to  restrain  the  mutinous  spirit  of  the  greater  cities, 
he  summoned  the  cortes  of  Castile  to  meet  at  Compos- 
tella,  a  town  in  Galicia.  His  only  reason  for  calling  that 
assembly  was  the  hope  of  obtaining  another  donative ; 
for,  as  his  treasury  had  been  exhausted  in  the  same 
proportion  that  the  riches  of  his  ministers  increased, 
he  could  not,  without  some  additional  aid,  appear  in 
Germany  with  splendor  suited  to  the  imperial  dignity. 
To  appoint  a  meeting  of  the  cortes  in  so  remote  a 
province,  and  to  demand  a  new  subsidy  before  the 
time  for  paying  the  former  was  expired-,  were  innova- 
tions of  a  most  dangerous  tendency,  and  among  a  peo- 
ple not  only  jealous  of  their  liberties,  but  accustomed 
to  supply  the  wants  of  their  sovereigns  with  a  very 
frugal  hand,  excited  a  universal  alarm.  The  magistrates 
of  Toledo  remonstrated  against  both  these  measures  in 
a  very  high  tone ;  the  inhabitants  of  Valladolid,  who 
expected  that  the  cortes  should  have  been  held  in  that 
city,  were  so  enraged  that  they  took  arms  in  a  tumultu- 
ary manner ;  and  if  Charles,  with  his  foreign  coun- 
sellors, had  not  fortunately  made  their  escape  during  a 

77  P.  Martyr.  Ep.,  651. — Ferreras,  viii.  376,  485. 


EMPEROR  CHARLES  THE  FIFTH. 


443 


violent  tempest,  they  would  have  massacred  all  the 
Flemings,  and  have  prevented  him  from  continuing  his 
journey  towards  Compostella. 

Every  city  through  which  he  passed  petitioned  against 
holding  a  cortes  in  Galicia,  a  point  with  regard  to  which 
Charles  was  inflexible.  But  though  the  utmost  influ- 
ence had  been  exerted  by  the  ministers  in  order  to  pro- 
cure a  choice  of  representatives  favorable  to  their  de- 
signs, such  was  the  temper  of  the  nation  that  at  the 
opening  of  the  assembly  there  appeared  among  many 
of  the  members  unusual  symptoms  of  ill-humor,  which 
threatened  a  fierce  opposition  to  all  the  measures  of  the 
court.  No  representatives  were  sent  by  Toledo ;  for 
the  lot,  according  to  which,  by  ancient  custom,  the 
election  was  determined  in  that  city,  having  fallen 
upon  two  persons  devoted  to  the  Flemish  ministers, 
their  fellow-citizens  refused  to  grant  them  a  commission 
in  the  usual  form,  and  in  their  stead  made  choice  of 
two  deputies,  whom  they  empowered  to  repair  to  Com- 
postella and  to  protest  against  the  lawfulness  of  the 
cortes  assembled  there.  The  representatives  of  Sala- 
manca refused  to  take  the  usual  oath  of  fidelity  unless 
Charles  consented  to  change  the  place  of  meeting. 
Those  of  Toro,  Madrid,  Cordova,  and  several  other 
places  declared  the  demand  of  another  donative  to  be 
unprecedented,  unconstitutional,  and  unnecessary.  All 
the  arts,  however,  which  influence  popular  assemblies, 
bribes,  promises,  threats,  and  even  force,  were  em- 
ployed in  order  to  gain  members.  The  nobles,  soothed 
by  the  respectful  assiduity  with  which  Chievres  and  the 
other  Flemings  paid  court  to  them,  or  instigated  by  a 
mean  jealousy  of  that  spirit  of  independence  which 


444  REIGN  OF  THE 

they  saw  rising  among  the  commons,  openly  favored 
the  pretensions  of  the  court,  or  at  the  utmost  did  not 
oppose  them ;  and  at  last,  in  contempt  not  only  of  the 
sentiments  of  the  nation,  but  of  the  ancient  forms  of 
the  constitution,  a  majority  voted  to  grant  the  donative 
for  which  the  emperor  had  applied.78  Together  with 
this  grant,  the  cortes  laid  before  Charles  a  representa- 
tion of  those  grievances  whereof  his  people  complained, 
and  in  their  name  craved  redress ;  but  he,  having  ob- 
tained from  them  all  that  he  could  expect,  paid  no 
attention*  to  this  ill-timed  petition,  which  it  was  no 
longer  dangerous  to  disregard.79 

As  nothing  now  retarded  his  embarkation,  he  dis- 
closed his  intention  with  regard  to  the  regency  of 
Castile  during  his  absence,  which  he  had  hitherto  kept 
secret,  and  nominated  Cardinal  Adrian  to  that  office. 
The  viceroyalty  of  Aragon  he  conferred  on  Don  John 
de  Lanuza ;  that  of  Valencia  on  Don  Diego  de  Men- 
doza,  Conde  de  Melito.  The  choice  of  the  two  latter 
was  universally  acceptable ;  but  the  advancement  of 
Adrian,  though  the  only  Fleming  who.  had  preserved 
any  reputation  among  the  Spaniards,  animated  the 
Castilians  with  new  hatred  against  foreigners ;  and 
even  the  nobles,  who  had  so  tamely  suffered  other  in- 
roads upon  the  constitution,  felt  the  indignity  offered 
to  their  own  order  by  his  promotion,  and  remonstrated 
against  it  as  being  illegal.  But  Charles's  desire  of 
visiting  Germany,  as  well  as  the  impatience  of  his 
ministers  to  leave  Spain,  were  now  so  much  increased 
that,  without  attending  to  the  murmurs  of  the  Castil- 

7s  P.  Martyr.  Ep.,  663. — Sandoval,  p.  32,  etc. 
79  Sandoval,  p.  84. 


EMPEROR    CHARLES   THE   FIFTH. 


445 


ians,  or  even  taking  time  to  provide  any  remedy  against 
an  insurrection  in  Toledo,  which  at  that  time  threat- 
ened, and  afterwards  produced,  most  formidable  effects, 
he  sailed  from  Corunna  on  the  22d  of  May;  and  by 
setting  out  so  abruptly  in  quest  of  a  new  crown  he 
endangered  a  more  important  one  of  which  he  was 
already  in  possession.80 

80  P.  Martyr.  Ep.,  670.  — Sandoval,  p.  86. 


Charles.— VOL.  I.  38 


BOOK    II. 


Rivalry  between  Charles  and  Francis  I.  for  the  Empire. — They  nego- 
tiate with  the  Pope,  the  Venetians,  and  Henry  VIII.  of  England. — 
Character  jof  the  latter. — Cardinal  Wolsey. — Charles  visits  Eng- 
land.— Meeting  between  Henry  VIII.  and  Francis  I. — Coronation 
of  Charles. — Solyman  the  Magnificent. — The  Diet  convoked  at 
Worms. — The  Reformation. — Sale  of  Indulgences  by  Leo  X. — 
Tetzel. — Luther. — Progress  of  his  Opinions. — Is  summoned  to 
Rome. — His  Appearance  before  the  Legate. — He  appeals  to  a 
General  Council. — Luther  questions  the  Papal  Authority. — Refor- 
mation in  Switzerland. — Excommunication  of  Luther. — Reforma- 
tion in  Germany. — Causes  of  the  Progress  of  the  Reformation. — 
The  Corruption  in  the  Roman  Church. — Power  and  Ill-Conduct 
of  the  Clergy. — Venality  of  the  Roman  Court. — Effects  of  the 
Invention  of  Printing. — Erasir-is. — The  Diet  at  Worms. — Edict 
against  Luther. — He  is  seized  and  confined  at  Wartburg. — His 
Doctrines  condemned  by  the  University  of  Paris,  and  controverted 
by  Henry  VIII.  of  England. — Henry  VIII.  favors  the  Emperor 
Charles  against  Francis  I. — Leo  X.  makes  a  Treaty  with  Charles. 
— Death  of  Chievres. — Hostilities  in  Navarre  and  in  the  Low 
Countries.  —  Siege  of  Mezieres. —  Congress  at  Calais.  —  League 
against  France. — Hostilities  in  Italy. — Death  of  Leo  X. — Defeat 
of  the  French. — Henry  VIII.  declares  War  against  France. — 
Charles  visits  England. — Conquest  of  Rhodes  by  Solyman. 

MANY  concurring  circumstances  not  only  called 
Charles's  thoughts  towards  the  affairs  of  Germany,  but 
rendered  his  presence  in  that  country  necessary.  The 
electors  grew  impatient  of  so  long  an  interregnum ; 
his  hereditary  dominions  were  disturbed  by  intestine 
(446) 


EMPEROR   CHARLES   THE  FIFTH.  447 

commotions;  and  the  new  opinions  concerning  religion 
made  such  rapid  progress  as  required  the  most  serious 
consideration.  But,  above  all,  the  motions  of  the 
French  king  drew  his  attention,  and  convinced  him 
that  it  was  necessary  to  take  measures  for  his  own 
defence  with  no  less  speed  than  vigor. 

When  Charles  and  Framns  entered  the  lists  as  candi- 
dates for  the  imperial  dignity,  they  conducted  their 
rivalship  with  many  professions  of  regard  for  each 
other,  and  with  repeated  declarations  that  they  would 
not  suffer  any  tincture  of  enmity  to  mingle  itself  with 
this  honorable  emulation.  "We  both  court  the  same 
mistress,"  said  Francis,  with  his  usual  vivacity;  "each 
ought  to  urge  his  suit  with  all  the  address  of  which  he 
is  master :  the  most  fortunate  will  prevail,  and  the 
other  must  rest  contented.'"  But  though  two  young 
and  high-spirited  princes,  and  each  of  them  animated 
with  the  hope  of  success,  might  be  capable  of  forming 
such  a  generous  resolution,  it  was  soon  found  that  they 
promised  upon  a  moderation  too  refined  and  disinter- 
ested for  human  nature.  The  preference  given  to 
Charles  in  the  sight  of  all  Europe  mortified  Francis 
extremely,  and  inspired  him  with  all  the  passions 
natural  to  disappointed  ambition.  To  this  was  owing 
the  personal  jealousy  and  rivalship  which  subsisted 
between  the  two  monarchs  during  their  whole  reign ; 
and  the  rancor  of  these,  augmented  by  a  real  opposi- 
tion of  interest,  which  gave  rise  to  many  unavoidable 
causes  of  discord,  involved  them  in  almost  perpetual 
hostilities.  Charles  had  paid  no  regard  to  the  principal 
article  in  the  treaty  of  Noyon,  by  refusing  oftener  than 

1  Guic.,  lib.  xiii.  p.  159. 


448  REIGN  OF  THE 

once  to  do  justice  to  John  d' Albret,  the  excluded  mon- 
arch of  Navarre,  whom  Francis  was  bound  in  honor 
and  prompted  by  interest  to  restore  to  his  throne. 
The  French  king  had  pretensions  to  the  crown  of 
Naples,  of  which  Ferdinand  had  deprived  his  pre- 
decessor by  a  most  unjustifiable  breach  of  faith.  The 
emperor  might  reclaim  the  duchy  of  Milan  as  a  fief  of 
the  empire,  which  Francis  had  seized,  and  still  kept  in 
possession,  without  having  received  investiture  of  it 
from  th.e  emperor.  Charles  considered  the  duchy  of 
Burgundy  as  the  patrimonial  domain  of  his  ancestors, 
wrested  from  them  by  the  unjust  policy  of  Louis  XI., 
and  observed  with  the  greatest  jealousy  the  strict  con- 
nections which  Francis  had  formed  with  the  duke  of 
Gueldres,  the  hereditary  enemy  of  his  family. 

When  the  sources  of  discord  were  so  many  and 
various,  peace  could  be  of  no  long  continuance,  even 
between  princes  the  most  exempt  from  ambition  or 
emulation.  But  as  the  shock  between  two  such  mighty 
antagonists  could  not  fail  of  being  extremely  violent, 
they  both  discovered  no  small  solicitude  about  its  con- 
sequences, and  took  time  not  only  to  collect  and  to 
ponder  their  own  strength  and  to  compare  it  with  that 
of  their  adversary,  but  to  secure  the  friendship  or 
assistance  of  the  other  European  powers. 

The  pope  had  equal  reason  to  dread  the  two  rivals, 
and  saw  that  he  who  prevailed  would  become  absolute 
master  in  Italy.  If  it  had  been  in  his  power  to  engage 
them  in  hostilities  without  rendering  Lombardy  the 
theatre  of  war,  nothing  would  have  been  more  agree- 
able to  him  than  to  see  them  waste  each  other's  strength 
in  endless  quarrels.  But  this  was  impossible.  Leo 


EMPEROR    CHARLES    THE  FIFTH. 


449 


foresaw  that  on  the  first  rupture  between  the  two  mon- 
archs  the  armies  of  France  and  Spain  would  take  the 
field  in  the  Milanese ;  and  while  the  scene  of  their 
operations  was  so  near,  and  the  subject  for  which  they 
contended  so  interesting  to  him,  he  could  not  long 
remain  neuter.  He  was  obliged,  therefore,  to  adapt 
his  plan  of  conduct  to  his  political  situation.  He 
courted  and  soothed  the  emperor  and  king  of  France 
with  equal  industry  and  address.  Though  warmly 
solicited  by  each  of  them  to  espouse  his  cause,  he 
assumed  all  the  appearances  of  entire  impartiality, 
and  attempted  to  conceal  his  real  sentiments  under 
that  profound  dissimulation  which  seems  to  have  been 
affected  by  most  of  the  Italian  politicians  in  that  age. 

The  views  and  interests  of  the  Venetians  were  not 
different  from  those  of  the  pope ;  nor  were  they  less 
solicitous  to  prevent  Italy  from  becoming  the  seat  of 
war,  and  their  own  republic  from  being  involved  in  the 
quarrel.  But  through  all  Leo's  artifices,  and  notwith- 
standing his  high  pretensions  to  a  perfect  neutrality,  it 
was  visible  that  he  leaned  towards  the  emperor,  from 
whom  he  had  both  more  to  fear  and  more  to  hope  than 
from  Francis ;  and  it  was  equally  manifest  that  if  it 
became  necessary  to  take  a  side  the  Venetians  would, 
from  motives  of  the  same  nature,  declare  for  the  king 
of  France.  No  considerable  assistance,  however,  was 
to  be  expected  from  the  Italian  states,  who  were  jealous 
to  an  extreme  degree  of  the  Transalpine  powers,  and 
careful  to  preserve  the  balance  even  between  them, 
unless  when  they  were  seduced  to  violate  this  favorite 
maxim  of  their  policy  by  the  certain  prospect  of  some 
great  advantage  to  themselves. 
38* 


450  REIGN  OF  THE 

But  the  chief  attention  both  of  Charles  and  of 
Francis  was  employed  in  order  to  gain  the  king  of 
England,  from  whom  each  of  them  expected  assistance 
more  effectual  and  afforded  with  less  political  caution. 
Henry  VIII.  had  ascended  the  throne  of  that  kingdom 
in  the  year  1509,  with  such  circumstances  of  advantage 
as  promised  a  reign  of  distinguished  felicity  and  splen- 
dor. The  union  in  his  person  of  the  two  contending 
titles  of  York  and  Lancaster,  the  alacrity  and  emula- 
tion with  which  both  factions  obeyed  his  commands, 
not  only  enabled  him  to  exert  a  degree  of  vigor  and 
authority  in  his  domestic  government  which  none  of  his 
predecessors  could  have  safely  assumed,  but  permitted 
him  to  take  a  share  in  the  affairs  of  the  Continent, 
from  which  the  attention  of  the  English  had  long  been 
diverted  by  their  unhappy  intestine  divisions.  The 
great  sums  of  money  which  his  father  had  amassed 
rendered  him  the  most  wealthy  prince  in  Europe.  The 
peace  which  had  subsisted  under  the  cautious  adminis- 
tration of  that  monarch  had  been  of  sufficient  length 
to  recruit  the  population  of  the  kingdom  after  the 
desolation  of  the  civil  wars,  but  not  so  long  as  to 
enervate  its  spirit ;  and  the  English,  ashamed  of  having 
rendered  their  own  country  so  long  a  scene  of  discord 
and  bloodshed,  were  eager  to  display  their  valor  in 
some  foreign  war,  and  to  revive  the  memory  of  the 
victories  gained  on  the  Continent  by  their  ancestors. 
Henry's  own  temper  perfectly  suited  the  state  of  his 
kingdom  and  the  disposition  of  his  subjects.  Am- 
bitious, active,  enterprising,  and  accomplished  in  all 
the  martial  exercises  which  in  that  age  formed  a  chief 
part  in  the  education  of  persons  of  noble  birth  and 


EMPEROR  CHARLES  THE  FIFTH. 


451 


inspired  them  with  an  early  love  of  war,  he  longed  to 
engage  in  action,  and  to  signalize  the  beginning  of  his 
reign  by  some  remarkable  exploit.  An  opportunity 
soon  presented  itself;  and  the  victory  at  Guinegate, 
together  with  the  successful  sieges  of  Terouenne  and 
Tournay,  though  of  little  utility  to  England,  reflected 
great  lustre  on  its  monarch,  and  confirmed  the  idea 
which  foreign  princes  entertained  of  his  power  and  con- 
sequence. So  many  concurring  causes,  added  to  the 
happy  situation  of  his  own  dominions,  which  secured 
them  from  foreign  invasion,  and  to  the  fortunate  cir- 
cumstance of  his  being  in  possession  of  Calais,  which 
served  not  only  as  a  key  to  France,  but  opened  an  easy 
passage  into  the  Netherlands,  rendered  the  king  of 
England  the  natural  guardian  of  the  liberties  of  Eu- 
rope, and  the  arbiter  between  the  emperor  and  French 
monarch.  Henry  himself  was  sensible  of  this  singular 
advantage,  and  convinced  that,  in  order  to  preserve  the 
balance  even,  it  was  his  office  to  prevent  either  of  the 
rivals  from  acquiring  such  superiority  of  power  as  might 
be  fatal  to  the  other,  or  formidable  to  the  rest  of  Chris- 
tendom. But  he  was  destitute  of  the  penetration,  and 
still  more  of  the  temper,  which  such  a  delicate  function 
required.  Influenced  by  caprice,  by  vanity,  by  resent- 
ment, by  affection,  he  was  incapable  of  forming  any 
regular  and  extensive  system  of  policy  or  of  adhering 
to  it  with  steadiness.  His  measures  seldom  resulted 
from  attention  to  the  general  welfare  or  from  a  delib- 
erate regard  to  his  own  interest,  but  were  dictated  by 
passions  which  rendered  him  blind  to  both,  and  pre- 
vented his  gaining  that  ascendant  in  the  affairs  of 
Europe,  or  from  reaping  such  advantages  to  himself, 


452 


REIGN  OF  THE 


as  a  prince  of  greater  art,  though  with  inferior  talents, 
might  have  easily  secured. 

All  the  impolitic  steps  in  Henry's  administration 
must  not,  however,  be  imputed  to  defects  in  his  own 
character;  many  of  them  were  owing  to  the  violent 
passions  and  insatiable  ambition  of  his  prime  minister 
and  favorite,  Cardinal  Wolsey.  This  man,  from  one 
of  the  lowest  ranks  in  life,  had  risen  to  a  height  of 
power  and  dignity  to  which  no  English  subject  ever 
arrivedl  and  governed  the  haughty,  presumptuous,  and 
untractable  spirit  of  Henry  with  absolute  authority. 
Great  talents,  and  of  very  different  kinds,  fitted  him 
for  the  two  opposite  stations  of  minister  and  of  favorite. 
His  profound  judgment,  his  unwearied  industry,  his 
thorough  acquaintance  with  the  state  of  the  kingdom, 
his  extensive  knowledge  of  the  views  and  interest  of 
foreign  courts,  qualified  him  for  that  uncontrolled 
direction  of  affairs  with  which  he  was  intrusted.  The 
elegance  of  his  manners,  the  gayety  of  his  conversation, 
his  insinuating  address,  his  love  of  magnificence,  and 
his  proficiency  in  those  parts  of  literature  of  which 
Henry  was  fond,  gained  him  the  affection  and  confi- 
dence of  the  young  monarch.  Wolsey  was  far  from 
employing  this  vast  and  almost  royal  power  to  pro- 
mote either  the  true  interest  of  the  nation  or  the  real 
grandeur  of  his  master.  Rapacious  at  the  same  time, 
and  profuse,  he  was  insatiable  in  desiring  wealth.  Of 
boundless  ambition,  he  aspired  after  new  honors  with 
an  eagerness  unabated  by  his  former  success ;  and  being 
rendered  presumptuous  by  his  uncommon  elevation,  as 
well  as  by  the  ascendant  which  he  had  gained  over  a 
prince  who  scarcely  brooked  advice  from  any  other 


EMPEROR   CHARLES   THE  FIFTH.  453 

person,  he  discovered  in  his  whole  demeanor  the  most 
overbearing  haughtiness  and  pride.  To  these  passions 
he  himself  sacrificed  every  consideration  ;  and  whoever 
endeavored  to  obtain  his  favor,  or  that  of  his  master, 
found  it  necessary  to  soothe  and  to  gratify  them. 

As  all  the  states  of  Europe  sought  Henry's  friendship 
at  that  time,  all  courted  his  minister  with  incredible 
attention  and  obsequiousness,  and  strove,  by  presents, 
by  promises,  or  by  flattery,  to  work  upon  his  avarice, 
his  ambition,  or  his  pride.2  Francis  had,  in  the  year 
1518,  employed  Bonnivet,  admiral  of  France,  one  of 
his  most  accomplished  and  artful  courtiers,  to  gain  this 
haughty  prelate.  He  himself  bestowed  on  him  every 
mark  of  respect  and  confidence.  He  consulted  him 
with  regard  to  his  most  important  affairs,  and  received 
his  responses  with  implicit  deference.  By  these  arts, 
together  with  the  grant  of  a  large  pension,  Francis 
attached  the  cardinal  to  his  interest,  who  persuaded  his 
master  to  surrender  Tournay  to  France,  to  conclude  a 
treaty  of  marriage  between  his  daughter,  the  princess 
Mary,  and  the  dauphin,  and  to  consent  to  a  personal 
interview  with  the  French  king.3  From  that  time  the 
most  familiar  intercourse  subsisted  between  the  two 
courts ;  Francis,  sensible  of  the  great  value  of  Wolsey's 
friendship,  labored  to  secure  the  continuance  of  it  by 
every  possible  expression  of  regard,  bestowing  on  him, 
in  all  his  letters,  the  honorable  appellations  of  father, 
tutor,  and  governor. 

Charles  observed  the  progress  of  this  union  with  the 
utmost  jealousy  and  concern.  His  near  affinity  to  the 

»  Fiddes's  Life  of  Wolsey,  166. — Rymer's  Foedera,  xiii.  718. 
3  Herbert's  History  of  Henry  VIII.,  30. — Rymer,  xiii.  624. 


454 


REIGN  OF  THE 


king  of  England  gave  him  some  title  to  his  friendship ; 
and  soon  after  his  accession  to  the  throne  of  Castile  he 
had  attempted  to  ingratiate  himself  with  Wolsey,  by 
settling  on  him  a  pension  of  three  thousand  livres. 
His  chief  solicitude  at  present  was  to  prevent  the  in- 
tended interview  with  Francis,  the  effects  of  which 
upon  two  young  princes,  whose  hearts  were  no  less 
susceptible  of  friendship  than  their  manners  were  capa- 
ble of  inspiring  it,  he  extremely  dreaded.  But  after 
many  delays,  occasioned  by  difficulties  with  respect  to 
the  ceremonial,  and  by  the  anxious  precautions  of  both 
courts  for  the  safety  of  their  respective  sovereigns,  the 
time  and  place  of  meeting  were  at  last  fixed.  Mes- 
sengers had  been  sent  to  different  courts,  inviting  all 
comers  who  were  gentlemen  to  enter  the  lists  at  tilt 
and  tournament  against  the  two  monarchs  and  their 
knights.  Both  Francis  and  Henry  loved  the  splendor 
of  these  spectacles  too  well,  and  were  too  much  de- 
lighted with  the  graceful  figure  which  they  made  on 
such  occasions,  to  forego  the  pleasure  or  glory  which 
they  expected  from  such  a  singular  and  brilliant  assem- 
bly. Nor  was  the  cardinal  less  fond  of  displaying  his 
own  magnificence  in  the  presence  of  two  courts,  and 
of  discovering  to  the  two  nations  the  extent  of  his 
influence  over  both  their  monarchs.  Charles,  finding 
it  impossible  to  prevent  the  interview,  endeavored  to 
disappoint  its  effects,  and  to  preoccupy  the  favor  of  the 
English  monarch  and  his  minister  by  an  act  of  com- 
plaisance still  more  flattering  and  more  uncommon. 
Having  sailed  from  Corunna,  as  has  already  been  re- 
lated, he  steered  his  course  directly  towards  England, 
and,  relying  wholly  on  Henry's  generosity  for  his 


EMPEROR  CHARLES  THE  FIFTH. 


455 


own  safety,  landed  at  Dover.  This  unexpected  visit 
surprised  the  nation.  Wolsey,  however,  was  well  ac- 
quainted with  the  emperor's  intention.  A  negotiation, 
unknown  to  the  historians  of  that  age,  had  been  carried 
on  between  him  and  the  court  of  Spain ;  this  visit  had 
been  concerted ;  and  Charles  granted  the  cardinal, 
whom  he  calls  his  most  dear  friend,  an  additional 
pension  of  seven  thousand  ducats.4  Henry,  who  was 
then  at  Canterbury,  in  his  way  to  France,  immediately 
despatched  Wolsey  to  Dover  in  order  to  welcome  the 
emperor,  and,  being  highly  pleased  with  an  event  so 
soothing  to  his  vanity,  hastened  to  receive  with  suitable 
respect  a  guest  who  had  placed  in  him  such  unbounded 
confidence.  Charles,  to  whom  time  was  precious, 
stayed  only  four  days  in  England ;  but  during  that 
short  space  he  had  the  address  not  only  to  give  Henry 
favorable  impressions  of  his  character  and  intentions, 
but  to  detach  Wolsey  entirely  from  the  interest  of  the 
French  king.  All  the  grandeur,  the  wealth,  and  the 
power  which  the  cardinal  possessed  did  not  satisfy  his 
ambitious  mind  while  there  was  one  step  higher  to 
which  an  ecclesiastic  could  ascend.  The  papal  dignity 
had  for  some  time  been  the  object  of  his  wishes ;  and 
Francis,  as  the  most  effectual  method  of  securing  his 
friendship,  had  promised  to  favor  his  pretensions,  on 
the  first  vacancy,  with  all  his  interest.  But  as  the 
emperor's  influence  in  the  college  of  cardinals  was 
greatly  superior  to  that  of  the  French  king,  Wolsey 
grasped  eagerly  at  the  offer  which  that  artful  prince 
had  made  him,  of  exerting  it  vigorously  in  his  behalf; 
and,  allured  by  this  prospect,  which  under  the  pontifi- 

4  Rymcr,  xiii.  714. 


45  6 


REIGN  OF   THE 


cate  of  Leo,  still  in  the  prime  of  his  life,  was  a  very 
distant  one,  he  entered  with  warmth  into  all  the  empe- 
ror's schemes.  No  treaty,  however,  was  concluded  at 
that  time  between  the  two  monarchs;  but  Henry,  in 
return  for  the  honor  which  Charles  had  done  him, 
promised  to  visit  him  in  some  place  of  the  Low  Coun- 
tries immediately  after  taking  leave  of  the  French  king. 
His  interview  with  that  prince  was  in  an  open  plain 
between  Guisnes  and  Ardres,  where  the  two  kings  and 
their  attendants  displayed  their  magnificence  with  such 
emulation  and  profuse  expense  as  procured  it  the  name 
of  the  Field  of  the  Cloth  of  Gold.  Feats  of  chivalry, 
parties  of  gallantry,  together  with  such  exercises  and 
pastimes  as  were  in  that  age  reckoned  manly  or  ele- 
gant, rather  than  serious  business,  occupied  both  courts 
during  eighteen  days  that  they  continued  together.5 
Whatever  impression  the  engaging  manners  of  Francis, 
or  the  liberal  and  unsuspicious  confidence  with  which 

5  The  French  and  English  historians  describe  the  pomp  of  this 
interview,  and  the  various  spectacles,  with  great  minuteness.  One 
circumstance  mentioned  by  the  Mareschal  de  Fleuranges,  who  was 
present,  and  which  must  appear  singular  in  the  present  age,  is  com- 
monly omitted.  "After  the  tournament,"  says  he,  "  the  French  and 
English  wrestlers  made  their  appearance,  and  wrestled  in  presence 
of  the  kings  and  the  ladies ;  and  as  there  were  many  stout  wrestlers 
there,  it  afforded  excellent  pastime ;  but  as  the  king  of  France  had 
neglected  to  bring  any  wrestlers  out  of  Bretagne,  the  English  gained 
the  prize.  After  this,  the  kings  of  France  and  England  retired  to  a 
tent,  where  they  drank  together,  and  the  king  of  England,  seizing 
the  king  of  France  by  the  collar,  said,  '  My  brother,  I  must  wrestle 
with  you,'  and  endeavored  once  or  twice  to  trip  up  his  heels ;  but  the 
king  of  France,  who  is  a  dexterous  wrestler,  twisted  him  round,  and 
threw  him  on  the  earth  with  prodigious  violence.  The  king  of  Eng- 
land wanted  to  renew  the  combat,  but  was  prevented."  Memoires 
de  Fleuranges,  I2mo,  Paris,  1753,  P-  329- 


EMPEROR  CHARLES  THE  FIFTH. 


457 


he  treated  Henry,  made  on  the  mind  of  that  monarch, 
was  soon  effaced  by  Wolsey's  artifices,  or  by  an  inter- 
view he  had  with  the  emperor  at  Gravelines,  which 
was  conducted  with  less  pomp  than  that  near  Guisnes, 
but  with  greater  attention  to  what  might  be  of  political 
utility. 

This  assiduity  with  which  the  two  greatest  monarchs 
in  Europe  paid  court  to  Henry  appeared  to  him  a 
plain  acknowledgment  that  he  held  the  balance  in  his 
hands,  and  convinced  him  of  the  justness  of  the  motto 
he  had  chosen,  "That  whoever  he  favored  would  pre- 
vail. ' '  In  this  opinion  he  was  confirmed  by  an  offer 
which  Charles  made,  of  submitting  any  difference  that 
might  arise  between  him  and  Francis  to  his  sole  arbi- 
tration. Nothing  could  have  the  appearance  of  greater 
candor  and  moderation  than  the  choice  of  a  judge  who 
was  reckoned  the  common  friend  of  both.  But,  as  the 
emperor  had  now  attached  Wolsey  entirely  to  his  in- 
terest, no  proposal  could  be  more  insidious,  nor,  as 
appeared  by  the  sequel,  more  fatal  to  the  French 
king.6 

Charles,  notwithstanding  his  partial  fondness  for  the 
Netherlands,  the  place  of  his  nativity,  made  no  long 
stay  there,  and,  after  receiving  the  homage  and  con- 
gratulations of  his  countrymen,  hastened  to  Aix-la- 
Chapelle,  the  place  appointed  by  the  golden  bull  for 
the  coronation  of  the  emperor.  There,  in  presence 
of  an  assembly  more  numerous  and  splendid  than  had 
appeared  on  any  former  occasion,  the  crown  of  Charle- 
magne was  placed  on  his  head,  with  all  the  pompous 
solemnity  which  the  Germans  affect  in  their  public 

6  Herbert,  37. 
Charles. — VOL.  I. — u          39 


458  REIGN  OF  THE 

ceremonies,  and  which  they  deem  essential  to  the  dig- 
nity of  their  empire.7 

Almost  at  the  same  time  Solyman  the  Magnificent, 
one  of  the  most  accomplished,  enterprising,  and  vic- 
torious of  the  Turkish  sultans,  a  constant  and  formi- 
dable rival  to  the  emperor,  ascended  the  Ottoman 
throne.  It  was  the  peculiar  glory  of  that  period  to 
produce  the  most  illustrious  monarchs  who  have  at  any 
one  time  appeared  in  Europe.  Leo,  Charles,  Francis, 
Henry,  and  Solyman  were  each  of  them  possessed  of 
talents  that  might  have  rendered  any  age  wherein  they 
happened  to  flourish  conspicuous.  But  such  a  constel- 
lation of  great  princes  shed  uncommon  lustre  on  the 
sixteenth  century.  In  every  contest  great  power,  as 
well  as  great  abilities,  were  set  in  opposition ;  the 
efforts  of  valor  and  conduct  on  one  side,  counterbal- 
anced by  an  equal  exertion  of  the  same  qualities  on 
the  other,  not  only  occasioned  such  a  variety  of  events 
as  renders  the  history  of  that  period  interesting,  but 
served  to  check  the  exorbitant  progress  of  any  of  those 
princes,  and  to  prevent  their  attaining  such  pre-emi- 
nence in  power  as  would  have  been  fatal  to  the  liberty 
and  happiness  of  mankind. 

The  first  act  of  the  emperor's  administration  was  to 
appoint  a  diet  of  the  empire  to  be  held  at  Worms  on 
the  6th  of  January,  1521.  In  his  circular  letters  to 
the  different  princes,  he  informed  them  that  he  had 
called  this  assembly  in  order  to  concert  with  them  the 
most  proper  measures  for  checking  the  progress  of 
those  new  and  dangerous  opinions  which  threatened 

7  Hartman.  Mauri  Relatio  Coronat.  Car.  V.,  ap.  Goldast.  Polit. 
Imperial.  Franc.,  1614,  fol.,  p.  264. 


EMPEROR   CHARLES   THE  FIFTH. 


459 


to  disturb  the  peace  of  Germany  and  to  overturn  the 
religion  of  their  ancestors. 

Charles  had  in  view  the  opinions  which  had  been 
propagated  by  Luther  and  his  disciples  since  the  year 
1517.  As  these  led  to  that  happy  reformation  in  re- 
ligion which  rescued  one  part  of  Europe  from  the  papal 
yoke,  mitigated  its  rigor  in  the  other,  and  produced  a 
revolution  in  the  sentiments  of  mankind,  the  greatest 
as  well  as  the  most  beneficial  that  has  happened  since 
the  publication  of  Christianity,  not  only  the  events 
which  at  first  gave  birth  to  such  opinions,  but  the 
causes  which  rendered  their  progress  so  rapid  and  suc- 
cessful, deserve  to  be  considered  with  minute  attention. 

To  overturn  a  system  of  religious  belief  founded 
on  ancient  and  deep-rooted  prejudices,  supported  by 
power,  and  defended  with  no  less  art  than  industry, 
to  establish  in  its  room  doctrines  of  the  most  contrary 
genius  and  tendency,  and  to  accomplish  all  this,  not 
by  external  violence  or  the  force  of  arms,  are  opera- 
tions which  historians  the  least  prone  to  credulity  and 
superstition  ascribe  to  that  Divine  Providence  which 
with  infinite  ease  can  bring  about  events  which  to 
human  sagacity  appear  impossible.  The  interposition 
of  Heaven  in  favor  of  the  Christian  religion  at  its  first 
publication  was  manifested  by  miracles  and  prophecies 
wrought  and  uttered  in  confirmation  of  it.  Though 
none  of  the  Reformers  possessed,  or  pretended  to  pos- 
sess, these  supernatural  gifts,  yet  that  wonderful  prepa- 
ration of  circumstances  which  disposed  the  minds  of 
men  for  receiving  their  doctrines — that  singular  com- 
bination of  causes  which  secured  their  success,  and 
enabled  men  destitute  of  power  and  of  policy  to 


460  REIGN  OF  THE 

triumph  over  those  who  employed  against  them  extra- 
ordinary efforts  of  both — may  be  considered  as  no 
slight  proof  that  the  same  hand  which  planted  the 
Christian  religion  protected  the  Reformed  faith,  and 
reared  it  from  beginnings  extremely  feeble  to  an  amaz- 
ing degree  of  vigor  and  maturity. 

It  was  from  causes  seemingly  fortuitous,  and  from  a 
source  very  inconsiderable,  that  all  the  mighty  effects 
of  the  Reformation  flowed.  Leo  X.,  when  raised  to 
the  papal  throne,  found  the  revenues  of  the  Church 
exhausted  by  the  vast  projects  of  his  two  ambitious 
predecessors,  Alexander  VI.  and  Julius  II.  His  own 
temper,  naturally  liberal  and  enterprising,  rendered 
him  incapable  of  that  severe  and  patient  economy 
which  the  situation  of  his  finances  required.  On  the 
contrary,  his  schemes  for  aggrandizing  the  family  of 
Medici,  his  love  of  splendor,  his  taste  for  pleasure,  and 
his  magnificence  in  rewarding  men  of  genius,  involved 
him  daily  in  new  expenses,  in  order  to  provide  a  fund 
for  which,  he  tried  every  device  that  the  fertile  inven- 
tion of  priests  had  fallen  upon  to  drain  the  credulous 
multitude  of  their  wealth.  Among  others,  he  had  re- 
course to  a  sale  of  indulgences.  According  to  the  doc- 
trine of  the  Romish  Church,  all  the  good  works  of  the 
saints  over  and  above  those  which  were  necessary 
towards  their  own  justification  are  deposited,  together 
with  the  infinite  merits  of  Jesus  Christ,  in  one  inex- 
haustible treasury.  The  keys  of  this  were  committed 
to  St.  Peter,  and  to  his  successors  the  popes,  who  may 
open  it  at  pleasure,  and,  by  transferring  a  portion  of 
this  superabundant  merit  to  any  particular  person  for  a 
sum  of  money,  may  convey  to  him  either  the  pardon 


EMPEROR    CHARLES    THE  FIFTH.  461 

of  his  own  sins,  or  a  release  for  any  one  in  whose  hap- 
piness he  is  interested  from  the  pains  of  purgatory. 
Such  indulgences  were  first  invented  in  the  eleventh 
century  by  Urban  II.  as  a  recompense  for  those  who 
went  in  person  upon  the  meritorious  enterprise  of  con- 
quering the  Holy  Land.  They  were  afterwards  granted 
to  those  who  hired  a  soldier  for  that  purpose,  and  in 
process  of  time  were  bestowed  on  such  as  gave  money 
for  accomplishing  any  pious  work  enjoined  by  the 
pope.8  Julius  II.  had  bestowed  indulgences  on  all  who 
contributed  towards  building  the  church  of  St.  Peter 
at  Rome ;  and,  as  Leo  was  carrying  on  that  magnifi- 
cent and  expensive  fabric,  his  grant  was  founded  on  the 
same  pretence.9 

The  right  of  promulgating  these  indulgences  in  Ger- 
many, together  with  a  share  in  the  profits  arising  from 
the  sale  of  them,  was  granted  to  Albert,  elector  of 
Mentz  and  archbishop  of  Magdeburg,  who,  as  his  chief 
agent  for  retailing  them  in  Saxony,  employed  Tetzel,  a 
Dominican  friar,  of  licentious  morals,  but  of  an  active 
spirit,  and  remarkable  for  his  noisy  and  popular  elo- 
quence. He,  assisted  by  the  monks  of  his  order,  exe- 
cuted the  commission  with  great  zeal  and  success,  but 
with  little  discretion  or  decency ;  and  though,  by  mag- 
nifying excessively  the  benefit  of  their  indulgences,10 

8  History  of  the  Council  of  Trent,  by  F.  Paul,  p.  4. 

9  Pallav.,  Hist.  Cone.  Trident.,  p.  4. 

10  As  the  form  of  these  indulgences,  and  the  benefits  which  they  were 
supposed  to  convey,  are  unknown  in  Protestant  countries,  and  little 
understood,  at  present,  in  several  places  where  the  Roman  Catholic 
religion  is  established,  I  have,  for  the  information  of  my  readers,  trans- 
lated the  form  of  absolution  used  by  Tetzel :  "  May  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  have  mercy  upon  thee,  and  absolve  thee  by  the  merits  of  his 

39* 


462  REIGN  OF  THE 

and  by  disposing  of  them  at  a  very  low  price,  they 
carried  on  for  some  time  an  extensive  and  lucrative 

most  holy  passion.  And  I,  by  his  authority,  that  of  his  blessed  Apos- 
tles Peter  and  Paul,  and  of  the  most  holy  pope,  granted  and  committed 
to  me  in  these  parts,  do  absolve  thee,  first  from  all  ecclesiastical  cen- 
sures, in  whatever  manner  they  have  been  incurred,  and  then  from  all 
thy  sins,  transgressions,  and  excesses,  how  enormous  soever  they  may 
be,  even  from  such  as  are  reserved  for  the  cognizance  of  the  holy  see ; 
and  as  far  as  the  keys  of  the  Holy  Church  extend,  I  remit  to  you  all 
punishment  which  you  deserve  in  purgatory  on  their  account,  and  I 
restore  you  to  the  holy  sacraments  of  the  Church,  to  the  unity  of  the 
faithful,  ami  to  that  innocence  and  purity  which  you  possessed  at  bap- 
tism ;  so  that,  when  you  die,  the  gates  of  punishment  shall  be  shut, 
and  the  gates  of  the  paradise  of  delight  shall  be  opened  ;  and  if  you 
shall  not  die  at  present,  this  grace  shall  remain  in  full  force  when  you 
are  at  the  point  of  death.  In  the  name  of  the  Father,  and  of  the  Son, 
and  of  the  Holy  Ghost."  Seckend.,  Comment.,  lib.  i.  p.  14. 

The  terms  in  which  Tetzel  and  his  associates  described  the  benefits 
of  indulgences,  and  the  necessity  of  purchasing  them,  are  so  extrava- 
gant that  they  appear  to  be  almost  incredible.  If  any  man  (said  they) 
purchase  letters  of  indulgence,  his  soul  may  rest  secure  with  respect 
to  its  salvation.  The  souls  confined  in  purgatory,  for  whose  redemp- 
tion indulgences  are  purchased,  as  soon  as  the  money  tinkles  in  the 
chest,  instantly  escape  from  that  place  of  torment  and  ascend  into 
heaven.  That  the  efficacy  of  indulgences  was  so  great  that  the  most 
heinous  sins,  even  if  one  should  violate  (which  was  impossible)  the 
mother  of  God,  would  be  remitted  and  expiated  by  them,  and  the  per- 
son be  freed  both  from  punishment  and  guilt.  That  this  was  the  un- 
speakable gift  of  God,  in  order  to  reconcile  men  to  himself.  That  the 
cross  erected  by  the  preachers  of  indulgences  was  as  efficacious  as  the 
cross  of  Christ  itself.  Lo  !  the  heavens  are  open  ;  if  you  enter  not 
now,  when  will  you  enter?  For  twelve  pence  you  may  redeem  the 
soul  of  your  father  out  of  purgatory ;  and  are  you  so  ungrateful  that 
you  will  not  rescue  your  parent  from  torment  ?  If  you  had  but  one 
coat,  you  ought  to  strip  yourself  instantly,  and  sell  it,  in  order  to  pur- 
chase such  benefits,  etc.  These,  and  many  such  extravagant  expres- 
sions, are  selected  out  of  Luther's  works  by  Chemnitius  in  his  Examen 
Concilii  Tridentini,  apud  Herm.  Von  der  Hardt.,  Hist.  Liter.  Reform., 
pars  iv.  p.  6.  The  same  author  has  published  several  of  Tetzel's  dis- 


EMPEROR   CHARLES   THE   FIFTH.  463 

traffic  among  the  credulous  and  the  ignorant,  the  ex- 
travagance of  their  assertions,  as  well  as  the  irregulari- 
ties in  their  conduct,  came  at  last  to  give  general 
offence.  The  princes  and  nobles  were  irritated  at 
seeing  their  vassals  drained  of  so  much  wealth  in  order 
to  replenish  the  treasury  of  a  profuse  pontiff.  Men  of 
piety  regretted  the  delusion  of  the  people,  who,  being 
taught  to  rely  for  the  pardon  of  their  sins  on  the  in- 
dulgences which  they  purchased,  did  not  think  it  in- 
cumbent on  them  either  to  study  the  doctrines  taught 
by  genuine  Christianity  or  to  practise  the  duties  which 
it  enjoins.  Even  the  most  unthinking  were  shocked 
at  the  scandalous  behavior  of  Tetzel  and  his  associates, 
who  often  squandered,  in  drunkenness,  gaming,  and 
low  debauchery,  those  sums  which  were  piously  be- 
stowed in  hopes  of  obtaining  eternal  happiness ;  and 
all  began  to  wish  that  some  check  were  given  to  this 
commerce,  no  less  detrimental  to  society  than  destruc- 
tive to  religion. 

Such  was  the  favorable  juncture,  and  so  disposed 
were  the  minds  of  his  countrymen  to  listen  to  his 
discourses,  when  Martin  Luther  first  began  to  call  in 
question  the  efficacy  of  indulgences,  and  to  declaim 
against  the  vicious  lives  and  false  doctrines  of  the  per- 
sons employed  in  promulgating  them.  Luther  was  a 
native  of  Eisleben,  in  Saxony,  and,  though  born  of 
poor  parents,  had  received  a  learned  education,  during 
the  progress  of  which  he  gave  many  indications  of 
uncommon  vigor  and  acuteness  of  genius.  His  mind 
was  naturally  susceptible  of  serious  sentiments,  and 

courses,  which  prove  that  these  expressions  were  neither  singular  nor 
exaggerated.  Ibid.,  p.  14. 


464  REIGN  OF   THE 

tinctured  with  somewhat  of  that  religious  melancholy 
which  delights  in  the  solitude  and  devotion  of  a 
monastic  life.  The  death  of  a  companion,  killed  by 
lightning  at  his  side  in  a  violent  thunder-storm,  made 
such  an  impression  on  his  mind  as  co-operated  with  his 
natural  temper  in  inducing  him  to  retire  into  a  con- 
vent of  Augustinian  friars,  where,  without  suffering  the 
entreaties  of  his  parents  to  divert  him  from  what  he 
thought  his  duty  to  God,  he  assumed  the  habit  of  that 
order.  He  soon  acquired  great  reputation,  not  only 
for  piety*  but  for  his  love  of  knowledge  and  his  un- 
wearied application  to  study.  He  had  been  taught  the 
scholastic  philosophy  and  theology,  which  were  then  in 
vogue,  by  very  able  masters,  and  wanted  not  penetra- 
tion to  comprehend  all  the  niceties  and  distinctions 
with  which  they  abound  ;  but  his  understanding,  natu- 
rally sound,  and  superior  to  every  thing  frivolous,  soon 
became  disgusted  with  those  subtle  and  uninstructive 
sciences,  and  sought  for  some  more  solid  foundation  of 
knowledge  and  of  piety  in  the  Holy  Scriptures.  Having 
found  a  copy  of  the  Bible,  which  lay  neglected  in  the 
library  of  his  monastery,  he  abandoned  all  other  pur- 
suits, and  devoted  himself  to  the  study  of  it  with  such 
eagerness  and  assiduity  as  astonished  the  monks,  who 
were  little  accustomed  to  derive  their  theological  no- 
tions from  that  source.  The  great  progress  which  he 
made  in  this  uncommon  course  of  study  augmented  so 
much  the  fame  both  of  his  sanctity  and  of  his  learn- 
ing that,  Frederic,  elector  of  Saxony,  having  founded 
a  university  at  Wittemberg  on  the  Elbe,  the  place  of 
his  residence,  Luther  was  chosen  first  to  teach  philoso- 
phy, and  afterwards  theology,  there,  and  discharged 


EMPEROR    CHARLES    THE   FIFTH.  465 

both  offices  in  such  a  manner  that  he  was  deemed  the 
chief  ornament  of  that  society. 

While  Luther  was  at  the  height  of  his  reputation  and 
authority,  Tetzel  began  to  publish  indulgences  in  the 
neighborhood  of  Wittemberg,  and  to  ascribe  to  them 
the  same  imaginary  virtues  which  had  in  other  places 
imposed  on  the  credulity  of  the  people.  As  Saxony 
was  not  more  enlightened  than  the  other  provinces  of 
Germany,  Tetzel  met  with  prodigious  success  there. 
It  was  with  the  utmost  concern  that  Luther  beheld  the 
artifices  of  those  who  sold,  and  the  simplicity  of  those 
who  bought,  indulgences.  The  opinions  of  Thomas 
Aquinas  and  the  other  schoolmen,  on  which  the  doc- 
trine of  indulgences  was  founded,  had  already  lost 
much  of  their  authority  with  him  ;  and  the  Scriptures, 
which  he  began  to  consider  as  the  great  standard  of 
theological  truth,  afforded  no  countenance  to  a  practice 
equally  subversive  of  faith  and  of  morals.  His  warm 
and  impetuous  temper  did  not  suffer  him  long  to  con- 
ceal such  important  discoveries,  or  to  continue  a  silent 
spectator  of  the  delusion  of  his  countrymen.  From 
the  pulpit  in  the  great  church  of  Wittemberg  he  in- 
veighed bitterly  against  the  irregularities  and  vices  of 
the  monks  who  published  indulgences ;  he  ventured  to 
examine  the  doctrines  which  they  taught,  and  pointed 
out  to  the  people  the  danger  of  relying  for  salvation 
upon  any  other  means  than  those  appointed  by  God  in 
his  word.  The  boldness  and  novelty  of  these  opinions 
drew  great  attention,  and,  being  recommended  by  the 
authority  of  Luther's  personal  character  and  delivered 
with  a  popular  and  persuasive  eloquence,  they  made  a 
deep  impression  on  his  hearers.  Encouraged  by  the 


466  REIGN  OF  THE 

favorable  reception  of  his  doctrines  among  the  people, 
he  wrote  to  Albert,  elector  of  Mentz  and  archbishop 
of  Magdeburg,  to  whose  jurisdiction  that  part  of  Saxony 
was  subject,  and  remonstrated  warmly  against  the  false 
opinions,  as  well  as  wicked  lives,  of  the  preachers  of 
indulgences ;  but  he  found  that  prelate  too  deeply  in- 
terested in  their  success  to  correct  their  abuses.  His 
next  attempt  was  to  gain  the  suffrage  of  men  of  learn- 
ing. For  this  purpose  he  published  ninety-five  theses, 
containing  his  sentiments  with  regard  to  indulgences. 
These  he -proposed,  not  as  points  fully  established  or 
of  undoubted  certainty,  but  as  subjects  of  inquiry  and 
disputation  ;  he  appointed  a  day  on  which  the  learned 
were  invited  to  impugn  them,  either  in  person  or  by 
writing ;  to  the  whole  he  subjoined  solemn  protesta- 
tions of  his  high  respect  for  the  apostolic  see,  and  of 
his  implicit  submission  to  its  authority.  No  opponent 
appeared  at  the  time  prefixed ;  the  theses  spread  over 
Germany  with  astonishing  rapidity;  they  were  read 
with  the  greatest  eagerness  ;  and  all  admired  the  bold- 
ness of  the  man  who  had  ventured  not  only  to  call  in 
question  the  plenitude  of  papal  power,  but  to  attack 
the  Dominicans,  armed  with  all  the  terrors  of  inquisi- 
torial authority." 

The  friars  of  St.  Augustine,  Luther's  own  order, 
though  addicted  with  no  less  obsequiousness  than  the 
other  monastic  fraternities  to  the  papal  see,  gave  no 
check  to  the  publication  of  these  uncommon  opinions. 
Luther  had,  by  his  piety  and  learning,  acquired  extra- 
ordinary authority  among  his  brethren ;  he  professed 

"  Lutheri  Opera,  Jenx,  1612,  vol.  i.  prsefat.  3,  p.  2,  66. — Hist,  of 
Council  of  Trent,  by  F.  Paul,  p.  4. — Seckend.,  Com.  Apol.,  p.  16. 


EMPEROR    CHARLES    THE  FIFTH.  467 

the  highest  regard  for  the  authority  of  the  pope;  his 
professions  were  at  that  time  sincere ;  and  as  a  secret 
enmity,  excited  by  interest  or  emulation,  subsists  among 
all  the  monastic  orders  in  the  Romish  Church,  the 
Augustinians  were  highly  pleased  with  his  invectives 
against  the  Dominicans,  and  hoped  to  see  them  exposed 
to  the  hatred  and  scorn  of  the  people.  Nor  was  his 
sovereign,  the  elector  of  Saxony,  the  wisest  prince  at 
that  time  in  Germany,  dissatisfied  with  this  obstruction 
which  Luther  threw  in  the  way  of  the  publication  of 
indulgences.  He  secretly  encouraged  the  attempt,  and 
flattered  himself  that  this  dispute  among  the  ecclesias- 
tics themselves  might  give  some  check  to  the  exactions 
of  the  court  of  Rome,  which  the  secular  princes  had 
long,  though  without  success,  been  endeavoring  to 
oppose. 

Many  zealous  champions  immediately  arose  to  defend 
opinions  on  which  the  wealth  and  power  of  the  Church 
were  founded,  against  Luther's  attacks.  In  opposition 
to  his  theses,  Tetzel  published  counter-theses  at  Frank- 
fort on  the  Oder  ;  Eccius,  a  celebrated  divine  of  Augs- 
burg, endeavored  to  refute  Luther's  notions ;  and 
Prierias,  a  Dominican  friar,  master  of  the  sacred 
palace,  and  inquisitor-general,  wrote  against  him  with 
all  the  virulence  of  a  scholastic  disputant.  But  the 
manner  in  which  they  conducted  the  controversy  did 
little  service  to  their  cause.  Luther  attempted  to  com- 
bat indulgences  by  arguments  founded  in  reason  or  de- 
rived from  Scripture ;  they  produced  nothing  in  support 
of  them  but  the  sentiments  of  schoolmen,  the  conclu- 
sions of  the  canon  law,  and  the  decrees  of  popes." 

12  F.  Paul,  p.  6. — Seckend.,  p.  40. — Pallavic.,  p.  8. 


468  REIGN  OF   THE 

The  decision  of  judges  so  partial  and  interested  did  not 
satisfy  the  people,  who  began  to  call  in  question  the 
authority  even  of  these  venerable  guides,  when  they 
found  them  standing  in  direct  opposition  to  the  dic- 
tates of  reason  and  the  determinations  of  the  Divine 
law.13 

*3  Seckend.,  p.  30. — Guicciardini  has  asserted  two  things  with  regard 
to  the  first  promulgation  of  indulgences: — I.  That  Leo  bestowed  a 
gift  of  the  profits  arising  from  the  sale  of  indulgences  in  Saxony,  and 
the  adjacent  provinces  of  Germany,  upon  his  sister  Magdalen,  the 
wife  of  Francescetto  Cibo.  (Guic.,  lib.  xiii.  168.)  2.  That  Arcem- 
boldo,  a  Genoese  ecclesiastic,  who  had  been  bred  a  merchant,  and 
still  retained  all  the  activity  and  address  of  that  profession,  was  ap- 
pointed by  her  to  collect  the  money  which  should  be  raised.  F.  Paul 
has  followed  him  in  both  these  particulars  ;  and  adds  that  the  Augus- 
tinians  in  Saxony  had  been  immemorially  employed  in  preaching  in- 
dulgences, but  that  Arcemboldo  and  his  deputies,  hoping  to  gain  more 
by  committing  this  trust  to  the  Dominicans,  had  made  their  bargain 
with  Tetzel,  and  that  Luther  was  prompted  at  first  to  oppose  Tetzel 
and  his  associates  by  a  desire  of  taking  revenge  for  this  injury  offered 
to  his  order.  (F.  Paul,  p.  5.)  Almost  all  historians  since  their  time, 
Popish  as  well  as  Protestant,  have,  without  examination,  admitted 
these  assertions  to  be  true  upon  their  authority.  But,  notwithstanding 
the  concurring  testimony  of  two  authors  so  eminent  both  for  exact- 
ness and  veracity,  we  may  observe — I.  That  Felix  Contolori,  who 
searched  the  pontifical  archives  for  the  purpose,  could  not  find  this 
pretended  grant  to  Leo's  sister  in  any  of  those  registers  where  it  must 
necessarily  have  been  recorded.  (Pallav.,p.  5.)  2.  That  the  profits 
arising  from  indulgences  in  Saxony  and  the  adjacent  countries  had 
been  granted,  not  to  Magdalen,  but  to  Albert,  archbishop  of  Mentz, 
who  had  the  right  of  nominating  those  who  published  them.  (Seek., 
p.  12 ;  Luth.  Open,  i.,  Prsef.  p.  i. ;  Pallav.,  p.  6.)  3.  That  Arcemboldo 
never  had  concern  in  the  publication  of  indulgences  in  Saxony :  his 
district  was  Flanders  and  the  Upper  and  Lower  Rhine.  (Seek.,  p.  14 ; 
Pallav.,  p.  6.)  4.  That  Luther  and  his  adherents  never  mentioned 
this  grant  of  Leo's  to  his  sister,  though  a  circumstance  of  which  they 
could  hardly  have  been  ignorant,  and  which  they  would  have  been 
careful  not  to  suppress.  5.  The  publication  of  indulgences  in  Ger- 


EMPEROR    CHARLES    THE  FIFTH.  469 

Meanwhile,  these  novelties  in  Luther's  doctrines, 
which  interested  all  Germany,  excited  little  attention 
and  no  alarm  in  the  court  of  Rome.  Leo,  fond  of 
elegant  and  refined  pleasures,  intent  upon  great  schemes 
of  policy,  a  stranger  to  theological  controversies,  and 
apt  to  despise  them,  regarded  with  the  utmost  indiffer- 
ence the  operations  of  an  obscure  friar  who,  in  the 
heart  of  Germany,  carried  on  a  scholastic  disputation  in 
a  barbarous  style.  Little  did  he  apprehend,  or  Luther 
himself  dream,  that  the  effects  of  this  quarrel  would 
be  so  fatal  to  the  papal  see.  Leo  imputed  the  whole 
to  monastic  enmity  and  emulation,  and  seemed  inclined 
not  to  interpose  in  the  contest,  but  to  allow  the  Augus- 
tinians  and  Dominicans  to  wrangle  about  the  matter 
with  their  usual  animosity. 

many  was  not  usually  committed  to  the  Augustinians.  The  promul- 
gation of  them,  at  three  different  periods  under  Julius  1 1.,  was  granted 
to  the  Franciscans;  the  Dominicans  had  been  employed  in  the  same 
office  a  short  time  before  the  present  period.  (Pallav.,  p.  46.)  6.  The 
promulgation  of  those  indulgences  which  first  excited  Luther's  indig- 
nation was  intrusted  to  the  archbishop  of  Mentz,  in  conjunction  with 
the  guardian  of  the  Franciscans ;  but  the  latter  having  declined 
accepting  of  that  trust,  the  sole  right  became  vested  in  the  archbishop. 
(Pallav.,  6;  Seek.,  16,  17.)  7.  Luther  was  not  instigated  by  his  supe- 
riors among  the  Augustinians  to  attack  the  Dominicans,  their  rivals, 
or  to  depreciate  indulgences  because  they  were  promulgated  by  them  : 
his  opposition  to  their  opinions  and  vices  proceeded  from  more  laud- 
able motives.  (Seek.,  p.  15,  32;  Lutheri  Opera,  i.  p.  64,  6.)  8.  A 
diploma  of  indulgences  is  published  by  Herm.  von  der  Hardt,  from 
which  it  appears  that  the  name  of  the  guardian  of  the  Franciscans  is 
retained  together  with  that  of  the  archbishop,  although  the  former 
did  not  act.  The  limits  of  the  country  to  which  their  commission  ex- 
tended, namely,  the  diocese  of  Mentz,  Magdeburg,  Halberstadt,  and 
the  territories  of  the  marquis  of  Brandenburg,  are  mentioned  in  that 
diploma.  Hist.  Literaria  Reformat.,  pars  iv.  p.  14. 
Charles. — VOT..  I.  40 


470 


REIGN  OF   THE 


The  solicitations,  however,  of  Luther's  adversaries, 
who  were  exasperated  to  a  high  degree  by  the  boldness 
and  severity  with  which  he  animadverted  on  their 
writings,  together  with  the  surprising  progress  which 
his  opinions  made  in  different  parts  of  Germany,  roused 
at  last  the  attention  of  the  court  of  Rome,  and  obliged 
Leo  to  take  measures  for  the  security  of  the  Church 
against  an  attack  that  now  appeared  too  serious  to  be 
despised.  For  this  end,  he  summoned  Luther  to  appear 
at  Rome,  within  sixty  days,  before  the  auditor  of  the 
chamber  -and  the  inquisitor-general,  Prierias,  who  had 
written  against  him,  whom  he  empowered  jointly  to 
examine  his  doctrines  and  to  decide  concerning  them. 
He  wrote,  at  the  same  time,  to  the  elector  of  Saxony, 
beseeching  him  not  to  protect  a  man  whose  heretical 
and  profane  tenets  were  so  shocking  to  pious  ears,  and 
enjoined  the  provincial  of  the  Augustinians  to  check 
by  his  authority  the  rashness  of  an  arrogant  monk, 
which  brought  disgrace  upon  the  order  of  St.  Augus- 
tine and  gave  offence  and  disturbance  to  the  whole 
Church.  [1518.] 

From  the  strain  of  these  letters,  as  well  as  from  the 
nomination  of  a  judge  so  prejudiced  and  partial  as 
Prierias,  Luther  easily  saw  what  sentence  he  might  ex- 
pect at  Rome.  He  discovered,  for  that  reason,  the 
utmost  solicitude  to  have  his  cause  tried  in  Germany 
and  before  a  less  suspected  tribunal.  The  professors  in 
the  university  of  Wittemberg,  anxious  for  the  safety  of 
a  man  who  did  so  much  honor  to  their  society,  wrote 
to  the  pope,  and,  after  employing  several  pretexts  to 
excuse  Luther  from  appearing  at  Rome,  entreated  Leo 
to  commit  the  examination  of  his  doctrines  to  some 


EMPEROR    CHARLES   THE  FIFTH.  471 

persons  of  learning  and  authority  in  Germany.  The 
elector  requested  the  same  thing  of  the  pope's  legate 
at  the  diet  of  Augsburg ;  and  as  Luther  himself,  who 
at  that  time  was  so  far  from  having  any  intention  to 
disclaim  the  papal  authority  that  he  did  not  even  en- 
tertain the  smallest  suspicion  concerning  its  divine 
original,  had  written  to  Leo  a  most  submissive  letter, 
promising  an  unreserved  compliance  with  his  will,  the 
pope  gratified  them  so  far  as  to  empower  his  legate  in 
Germany,  Cardinal  Cajetan,  a  Dominican,  eminent  for 
scholastic  learning,  and  passionately  devoted  to  the 
Roman  see,  to  hear  and  determine  the  cause. 

Luther,  though  he  had  good  reason  to  decline  a  judge 
chosen  among  his  avowed  adversaries,  did  not  hesitate 
about  appearing  before  Cajetan,  and,  having  obtained 
the  emperor's  safe-conduct,  immediately  repaired  to 
Augsburg.  The  cardinal  received  him  with  decent  re- 
spect, and  endeavored  at  first  to  gain  upon  him  by 
gentle  treatment.  The  cardinal,  relying  on  the  superi- 
ority of  his -own  talents  as  a  theologian,  entered  into 
a  formal  dispute  with  Luther  concerning  the  doctrines 
contained  in  his  theses.14  But  the  weapons  which  they 
employed  were  so  different,  Cajetan  appealing  to  papal 
decrees  and  the  opinions  of  schoolmen,  and  Luther 
resting  entirely  on  the  authority  of  Scripture,  that  the 
contest  was  altogether  fruitless.  The  cardinal  relin- 
quished the  character  of  a  disputant,  and,  assuming 

**  In  the  former  editions  I  asserted,  upon  the  authority  of  Father 
Paul,  that  Cajetan  thought  it  beneath  his  dignity  to  enter  into  any 
dispute  with  Luther ;  but  M.  Beausobre,  in  his  Histoire  de  la  Refor- 
mation, vol.  i.  p.  I2i,  etc.,  has  satisfied  me  that  I  was  mistaken.  See 
also  Seckend.,  lib.  i.  p.  46,  etc. 


472  REIGN  OF  THE 

that  of  a  judge,  enjoined  Luther,  by  virtue  of  the 
apostolic  powers  with  which  he  was  clothed,  to  retract 
the  errors  which  he  had  uttered  with  regard  to  indul- 
gences and  the  nature  of  faith,  and  to  abstain  for  the 
future  from  the  publication  of  new  and  dangerous 
opinions.  Luther,  fully  persuaded  of  the  truth  of  his 
own  tenets,  and  confirmed  in  the  belief  of  them  by  the 
approbation  which  they  had  met  with  among  persons 
conspicuous  both  for  learning  and  piety,  was  surprised 
at  this  abrupt  mention  of  a  recantation  before  any  en- 
deavors Were  used  to  convince  him  that  he  was  mistaken. 
He  had  flattered  himself  that  in  a  conference  concern- 
ing the  points  in  dispute  with  a  prelate  of  such  distin- 
guished abilities  he  should  be  able  to  remove  many  of 
those  imputations  with  which  the  ignorance  or  malice 
of  his  antagonists  had  loaded  him ;  but  the  high  tone 
of  authority  that  the  cardinal  assumed  extinguished  at 
once  all  hopes  of  this  kind,  and  cut  off  every  prospect 
of  advantage  from  the  interview.  His  native  intrepidity 
of  mind,  however,  did  not  desert  him.  He  declared 
with  the  utmost  firmness  that  he  could  not,  with  a  safe 
conscience,  renounce  opinions  which  he  believed  to  be 
true ;  nor  should  any  consideration  ever  induce  him  to 
do  what  would  be  so  base  in  itself  and  so  offensive  to 
God.  At  the  same  time,  he  continued  to  express  no 
less  reverence  than  formerly  for  the  authority  of  the 
apostolic  see ; IS  he  signified  his  willingness  to  submit 
the  whole  controversy  to  certain  universities  which  he 
named,  and  promised  neither  to  write  nor  to  preach 
concerning  indulgences  for  the  future,  provided  his 
adversaries  were  likewise  enjoined  to  be  silent  with 

*s  Luth.,  Oper.,  vol.  i.  p.  164. 


EMPEROR  CHARLES  THE  FIFTH. 


473 


respect  to  them.16  All  these  offers  Cajetan  disregarded 
or  rejected,  and  still  insisted  peremptorily  on  a  simple 
recantation,  threatening  him  with  ecclesiastical  cen- 
sures and  forbidding  him  to  appear  again  in  his  pres- 
ence unless  he  resolved  instantly  to  comply  with  what 
he  had  required.  This  haughty  and  violent  manner 
of  proceeding,  as  well  as  other  circumstances,  gave 
Luther's  friends  such  strong  reasons  to  suspect  that  even 
the  imperial  safe-conduct  would  not  be  able  to  protect 
him  from  the  legate's  power  and  resentment,  that  they 
prevailed  on  him  to  withdraw  secretly  from  Augsburg 
and  to  return  to  his  own  country.  But  before  his  de- 
parture, according  to  a  form  of  which  there  had  been 
some  examples,  he  prepared  a  solemn  appeal  from  the 
pope,  ill  informed  at  that  time  concerning  his  cause,  to 
the  pope  when  he  should  receive  more  full  information 
with  respect  to  it.17 

Cajetan,  enraged  at  Luther's  abrupt  retreat  and  at 
the  publication  of  his  appeal,  wrote  to  the  elector  of 
Saxony,  complaining  of  both,  and  requiring  him,  as  he 
regarded  the  peace  of  the  Church  or  the  authority  of 
its  head,  either  to  send  that  seditious  monk  a  prisoner 
to  Rome,  or  to  banish  him  out  of  his  territories.  It 
was  not  from  theological  considerations  that  Frederic 
had  hitherto  countenanced  Luther :  he  seems  to  have 
been  much  a  stranger  to  controversies  of  that  kind, 
and  to  have  been  little  interested  in  them.  His  pro- 
tection flowed  almost  entirely,  as  hath  been  already 
observed,  from  political  motives,  and  was  afforded  with 

16  Luth.,  Open,  vol.  i.  p.  160. 

'7  Sleid.,  Hist,  of  Reform.,  p.  7. — Seckend.,  p.  45. — Luth.,  Oper., 
i.  163. 

40* 


474 


REIGN  OF  THE 


great  secrecy  and  caution.  He  had  neither  heard  any 
of  Luther's  discourses  nor  read  any  of  his  books; 
and  though  all  Germany  resounded  with  his  fame, 
he  had  never  once  admitted  him  into  his  presence.18 
But  upon  this  demand  which  the  cardinal  made,  it  be- 
came necessary  to  throw  off  somewhat  of  his  former 
reserve.  He  had  been  at  great  expense  artd  had 
bestowed  much  attention  on  founding  a  new  univer- 
sity, an  object  of  considerable  importance  to  every 
German  prince;  and,  foreseeing  how  fatal  a  blow  the 
removal  *of  Luther  would  be  to  its  reputation,'9  he, 
under  various  pretexts  and  with  many  professions  of 
esteem  for  the  cardinal,  as  well  as  of  reverence  for 
the  pope,  not  only  declined  complying  with  either  of 
his  requests,  but  openly  discovered  great  concern  for 
Luther's  safety.20 

The  inflexible  rigor  with  which  Cajetan  insisted  on 
a  simple  recantation  gave  great  offence  to  Luther's  fol- 
lowers in  that  age,  and  hath  since  been  censured  as 
imprudent  by  several  popish  writers.  But  it  was  im- 
possible for  the  legate  to  act  another  part.  The  judges 
before  whom  Luther  had  been  required  to  appear  at 
Rome  were  so  eager  to  display  their  zeal  against  his 
errors,  that,  without  waiting  for  the  expiration  of  sixty 
days  allowed  him  in  the  citation,  they  had  already 
condemned  him  as  a  heretic.21  Leo  had,  in  several 
of  his  briefs  and  letters,  stigmatized  him  as  a  child  of 
iniquity  and  a  man  given  up  to  a  reprobate  sense. 

18  Seckend.,  p.  27. — Sleid.,  Hist.,  p.  12. 
'9  Seckend.,  p.  59. 

30  Sleid.,  Hist.,  p.  10. — Luth.,  Oper.,  i.  172. 
21  Luther.,  Oper.,  i.  161. 


EMPEROR   CHARLES   THE  FIFTH.  475 

Nothing  less,  therefore,  than  a  recantation  could  save 
the  honor  of  the  Church,  whose  maxim  it  is  never  to 
abandon  the  smallest  point  that  it  has  established,  and 
which  is  even  precluded,  by  its  pretensions  to  infalli- 
bility, from  having  it  in  its  power  to  do  so. 

Luther's  situation  at  this  time  was  such  as  would 
have  filled  any  other  person  with  the  most  disquieting 
apprehensions.  He  could  not  expect  that  a  prince  so 
prudent  and  cautious  as  Frederic  would  on  his  account 
set  at  defiance  the  thunders  of  the  Church,  and  brave 
the  papal  power,  which  had  crushed  some  of  the  most 
powerful  of  the  German  emperors.  He  knew  what 
veneration  was  paid,  in  that  age,  to  ecclesiastical  de- 
cisions ;  what  terrors  ecclesiastical  censures  carried 
along  with  them,  and  how  easily  these  might  intimi- 
date and  shake  a  prince  who  was  rather  his  protector 
from  policy  than  his  disciple  from  conviction.  If  he 
should  be  obliged  to  quit  Saxony,  he  had  no  prospect 
of  any  other  asylum,  and  must  stand  exposed  to  what- 
ever punishment  the  rage  or  bigotry  of  his  enemies 
could  inflict.  Though  sensible  of  his  danger,  he  dis- 
covered no  symptoms  of  timidity  or  remissness,  but 
continued  to  vindicate  his  own  conduct  and  opinions 
and  to  inveigh  against  those  of  his  adversaries  with 
more  vehemence  than  ever.** 

But  as  every  step  taken  by  the  court  of  Rome,  par- 
ticularly the  irregular  sentence  by  which  he  had  been 
so  precipitately  declared  a  heretic,  convinced  Luther 
that  Leo  would  soon  proceed  to  the  most  violent  meas- 
ures against  him,  he  had  recourse  to  the  only  expedient 
in  his  power  in  order  to  prevent  the  effect  of  the  papal 

22  Seckend.,  p.  59. 


476  REIGN  OF  THE 

censures.  He  appealed  to  a  general  council,  which  hu 
affirmed  to  be  the  representative  of  the  Catholic  Church 
and  superior  in  power  to  the  pope,  who,  being  a  fal- 
lible man,  might  err,  as  St.  Peter,  the  most  perfect  of 
his  predecessors,  had  erred.23 

It  soon  appeared  that  Luther  had  not  formed  rash 
conjectures  concerning  the  intentions  of  the  Romish 
Church.  A  bull  of  a  date  prior  to  his  appeal  was 
issued  by  the  pope,  in  which  he  magnifies  the  virtue 
and  efficacy  of  indulgences,  in  terms  as  extravagant  as 
any  of  "ftis  predecessors  had  ventured  to  use  in  the 
darkest  ages;  and,  without  applying  such  palliatives  or 
mentioning  such  concessions  as  a  more  enlightened 
period  and  the  disposition  in  the  minds  of  many  men 
at  that  juncture  seemed  to  call  for,  he  required  all 
Christians  to  assent  to  what  he  delivered  as  the  doc- 
trine of.  the  Catholic  Church,  and  subjected  those  who 
should  hold  or  teach  any  contrary  opinion  to  the 
heaviest  ecclesiastical  censures. 

Among  Luther's  followers,  this  bull,  which  they 
considered  as  an  unjustifiable  effort  of  the  pope  in 
order  to  preserve  that  rich  branch  of  his  revenue  which 
arose  from  indulgences,  produced  little  effect.  But 
among  the  rest  of  his  countrymen,  such  a  clear  decision 
of  the  sovereign  pontiff  against  him,  and  enforced  by 
such  dreadful  penalties,  must  have  been  attended  with 
consequences  very  fatal  to  his  cause,  if  these  had  not 
been  prevented  in  a  great  measure  by  the  death  of  the 
emperor  Maximilian,  whom  both  his  principles  and  his 
interest  prompted  to  support  the  authority  of  the  holy 
see.  In  consequence  of  this  event,  the  vicariat  of  that 

23  Sleid.,  Hist.,  12. — Luth.,  Oper.,  i.  179. 


EMPEROR  CHARLES  THE  FIFTH. 


477 


part  of  Germany  which  is  governed  by  the  Saxon  laws 
devolved  to  the  elector  of  Saxony;  and  under  the 
shelter  of  his  friendly  administration  Luther  not  only 
enjoyed  tranquillity,  but  his  opinions  were  suffered, 
during  the  interregnum  which  preceded  Charles's  elec- 
tion, to  take  root  in  different  places  and  to  grow  up  to 
some  degree  of  strength  and  firmness.  At  the  same 
time,  as  the  election  of  an  emperor  was  a  point  more 
interesting  to  Leo  than  a  theological  controversy, 
which  he  did  not  understand,  and  of  which  he  could 
not  foresee  the  consequences,  he  was  so  extremely 
solicitous  not  to  irritate  a  prince  of  such  considerable 
influence  in  the  electoral  college  as  Frederic,  that  he 
discovered  a  great  unwillingness  to  pronounce  the  sen- 
tence of  excommunication  against  Luther,  which  his 
adversaries  continually  demanded  with  the  most  clam- 
orous importunity. 

To  these  political  views  of  the  pope,  as  well  as  to  his 
natural  aversion  from  severe  measures,  was  owing  the 
suspension  of  any  further  proceedings  against  Luther 
for  eighteen  months.  Perpetual  negotiations,  however, 
in  order  to  bring  the  matter  to  some  amicable  issue, 
were  carried  on  during  that  space.  The  manner  in 
which  these  were  conducted  having  given  Luther  many 
opportunities  of  observing  the  corruption  of  the  court 
of  Rome,  its  obstinacy  in  adhering  to  established 
errors,  and  its  indifference  about  truth,  however  clearly 
proposed  or  strongly  proved,  he  began  to  utter  some 
doubts  with  regard  to  the  divine  original  of  the  papal 
authority.  A  public  disputation  was  held  upon  this 
important  question  at  Leipsic,  between  Luther  and 
Eccius,  one  of  his  most  learned  and  formidable  antag- 


478  REIGN  OF  THE 

onists;  but  it  was  as  fruitless  and  indecisive  as  such 
scholastic  combats  usually  prove.  Both  parties  boasted 
of  having,  obtained  the  victory ;  both  were  confirmed 
in  their  own  opinions;  and  no  progress  was  made 
towards  deciding  the  point  in  controversy.24 

Nor  did  the  spirit  of  opposition  to  the  doctrines  and 
usurpations  of  the  Romish  Church  break  out  in  Saxony 
alone :  an  attack  no  less  violent,  and  occasioned  by 
the  same  causes,  was  made  upon  them  about  this  time 
in  Switzerland.  The  Franciscans,  being  intrusted  with 
the  promulgation  of  indulgences  in  that  country,  ex- 
ecuted their  commission  with  the  same  indiscretion 
and  rapaciousness  which  had  rendered  the  Dominicans 
so  odious  in  Germany.  They  proceeded,  nevertheless, 
with  uninterrupted  success,  until  they  arrived  at  Zurich. 
There  Zuinglius,  a  man  not  inferior  to  Luther  himself 
in  zeal  and  intrepidity,  ventured  to  oppose  them;  and 
being  animated  with  a  republican  boldness,  and  free 
from  those  restraints  which  subjection  to  the  will  of  a 
prince  imposed  on  the  German  Reformer,  he  advanced 
with  more  daring  and  rapid  steps  to  overturn  the  whole 
fabric  of  the  established  religion.25  The  appearance  of 
such  a  vigorous  auxiliary,  and  the  progress  which  he 
made,  was,  at  first,  matter  of  great  joy  to  Luther.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  decrees  of  the  Universities  of  Co- 
logne and  Louvain,  which  pronounced  his  opinions  to 
be  erroneous,  afforded  great  cause  of  triumph  to  his 
adversaries. 

But  the  undaunted  spirit  of  Luther  acquired  addi- 
tional fortitude  from  every  instance  of  opposition; 

2*  Luth.,  Oper.,  i.  199. 

"5  Sleid.,  Hist.,  22.— Seckend.,  59. 


EMPEROR   CHARLES   THE   FIFTH.  479 

and,  pushing  on  his  inquiries  and  attacks  from  one 
doctrine  to  another,  he  began  to  shake  the  firmest 
foundations  on  which  the  wealth  or  power  of  the 
Church  was  established.  Leo  came  at  last  to  be  con- 
vinced that  all  hopes  of  reclaiming  him  by  forbearance 
were  vain  ;  several  prelates  of  great  wisdom  exclaimed, 
no  less  than  Luther's  personal  adversaries,  against  the 
pope's  unprecedented  lenity  in  permitting  an  incorrigi- 
ble heretic,  who  during  three  years  had  been  endeavor- 
ing to  subvert  every  thing  sacred  and  venerable,  still 
to  remain  within  the  bosom  of  the  Church  ;  the  dignity 
of  the  papal  see  rendered  the  most  vigorous  proceed- 
ings necessary ;  the  new  emperor,  it  was  hoped,  would 
support  its  authority;  nor  did  it  seem  probable  that 
the  elector  of  Saxony  would  so  far  forget  his  usual 
caution  as  to  set  himself  in  opposition  to  their  united 
power.  The  college  of  cardinals  was  often  assembled, 
in  order  to  prepare  the  sentence  with  due  deliberation, 
and  the  ablest  canonists  were  consulted  how  it  might 
be  expressed  with  unexceptionable  formality.  At  last, 
on  the  15th  of  June,  1520,  the  bull,  so  fatal  to  the 
Church  of  Rome,  was  issued.  Forty-one  propositions, 
extracted  out  of  Luther's  works,  are  therein  condemned 
as  heretical,  scandalous,  and  offensive  to  pious  ears ; 
all  persons  are  forbidden  to  read  his  writings,  upon 
pain  of  excommunication ;  such  as  had  any  of  them  in 
their  custody  were  commanded  to  commit  them  to  the 
flames ;  he  himself,  if  he  did  not  within  sixty  days 
publicly  recant  his  errors  and  burn  his  books,  is  pro- 
nounced an  obstinate  heretic,  is  excommunicated,  and 
delivered  unto  Satan  for  the  destruction  of  his  flesh ; 
and  all  secular  princes  are  required,  under  pain  of 


480  REIGN  OF   THE 

incurring  the  same  censure,  to  seize  his  person,  that  he 
might  be  punished  as  his  crimes  deserved.26 

The  publication  of  this  bull  in  Germany  excited 
various  passions  in  different  places.  Luther's  adver- 
saries exulted,  as  if  his  party  and  opinions  had  been 
crushed  at  once  by  such  a  decisive  blow.  His  fol- 
lowers, whose  reverence  for  the  papal  authority  daily 
diminished,  read  Leo's  anathemas  with  more  indigna- 
tion than  terror.  In  some  cities  the  people  violently 
obstructed  the  promulgation  of  the  bull ;  in  others, 
the  persons  who  attempted  to  publish  it  were  insulted, 
and  the  bull  itself  was  torn  in  pieces  and  trodden 
under  foot.27 

This  sentence,  which  he  had  for  some  time  expected, 
did  not  disconcert  or  intimidate  Luther.  After  re- 
newing his  appeal  to  the  general  council,  he  published 
remarks  upon  the  bull  of  excommunication ;  and, 
being  now  persuaded  that  Leo  had  been  guilty  both 
of  impiety  and  injustice  in  his  proceedings  against 
him,  he  boldly  declared  the  pope  to  be  that  man  of 
sin,  or  Antichrist,  whose  appearance  -  is  foretold  in  the 
New  Testament ;  he  declaimed  against  his  tyranny 
and  usurpations  with  greater  violence  than  ever ;  he 
exhorted  all  Christian  princes  to  shake  off  such  an 
ignominious  yoke,  and  boasted  of  his  own  happiness 
in  being  marked  out  as  the  object  of  ecclesiastical 
indignation,  because  he  had  ventured  to  assert  the 
liberty  of  mankind.  Nor  did  he  confine  his  expres- 
sions of  contempt  for  the  papal  power  to  words  alone : 
Leo  having,  in  execution  of  the  bull,  appointed  Lu- 

26  Pallav.,  27. — Luth.,   Oper.,  i.  423. 

27  Seckend.,  p.  116. 


EMPEROR    CHARLES   THE  FIFTH.          481 

ther's  books  to  be  burnt  at  Rome,  he,  by  way  of 
retaliation,  assembled  all  the  professors  and  students  in 
the  University  of  Wittemberg,  and  with  great  pomp, 
in  presence  of  a  vast  multitude  of  spectators,  cast  the 
volumes  of  the  canon  law,  together  with  the  bull  of 
excommunication,  into  the  flames ;  and  his  example 
was  imitated  in  several  cities  of  Germany.  The  man- 
ner in  which  he  justified  this  action  was  still  more 
offensive  than  the  action  itself.  Having  collected  from 
the  canon  law  some  of  the  most  extravagant  propo- 
sitions with  regard  to  the  plenitude  and  omnipotence 
of  the  papal  power,  as  well  as  the  subordination  of  all 
secular  jurisdiction  to  the  authority  of  the  holy  see,  he 
published  these  with  a  commentary,  pointing  out  the 
impiety  of  such  tenets  and  their  evident  tendency  to 
subvert  all  civil  government.28 

Such  was  the  progress  which  Luther  had  made,  and 
such  the  state  of  his  party,  when  Charles  arrived  in 
Germany.  No  secular  prince  had  hitherto  embraced 
Luther's  opinions ;  no  change  in  the  established  forms 
of  worship  had  been  introduced;  and  no  encroach- 
ments had  been  made  upon  the  possessions  or  jurisdic- 
tion of  the  clergy ;  neither  party  had  yet  proceeded  to 
action ;  and  the  controversy,  though  conducted  with 
great  heat  and  passion  on  both  sides,  was  still  carried 
on  with  its  proper  weapons, — with  theses,  disputations, 
and  replies.  A  deep  impression,  however,  was  made 
upon  the  minds  of  the  people;  their  reverence  for 
ancient  institutions  and  doctrines  was  shaken  ;  and  the 
materials  were  already  scattered  which  kindled  into 
the  combustion  that  soon  spread  over  all  Germany. 

38  Luth.,  Oper.,  ii.  316. 
Charles. — VOL.  I. — v  41 


482  REIGN  OF  THE 

Students  crowded  from  every  province  of  the  empire  to 
Wittemberg;  and  under  Luther  himself,  Melancthon, 
Carlostadius,  and  other  masters  then  reckoned  eminent, 
imbibed  opinions  which,  on  their  return,  they  propa- 
gated among  their  countrymen,  who  listened  to  them 
with  that  fond  attention  which  truth,  when  accompanied 
with  novelty,  naturally  commands.29 

During  the  course  of  these  transactions  the  court  of 
Rome,  though  under  the  direction  of  one  of  its  ablest 
pontiffs,  neither  formed  its  schemes  with  that  profound 
sagacity  "nor  executed  them  with  that  steady  perse- 
verance which  had  long  rendered  it  the  most  perfect 
model  of  political  wisdom  to  the  rest  of  Europe.  When 
Luther  began  to  declaim  against  indulgences,  two  differ- 
ent methods  of  treating  him  lay  before  the  pope,  by 
adopting  one  of  which  the  attempt,  it  is  probable, 
might  have  been  crushed,  and  by  the  other  it  might 
have  been  rendered  innocent.  If  Luther's  first  de- 
parture from  the  doctrines  of  the  Church  had  instantly 
drawn  upon  him  the  weight  of  its  censures,  the  dread 
of  these  might  have  restrained  the  elector  of  Saxony 
from  protecting  him,  might  have  deterred  the  people 
from  listening  to  his  discourses,  or  even  might  have 
overawed  Luther  himself;  and  his  name,  like  that  of 
many  good  men  before  his  time,  would  now  have  been 
known  to  the  world  only  for  his  honest  but  ill-timed 
effort  to  correct  the  corruptions  of  the  Romish  Church. 
On  the  other  hand,  if  the  pope  had  early  testified  some 
displeasure  with  the  vices  and  excesses  of  the  friars  who 
had  been  employed  in  publishing  indulgences,  if  he 
had  forbidden  the  mentioning  of  controverted  points 

=9  Seckend.,  59. 


EMPEROR   CHARLES   THE  FIFTH.  483 

in  discourses  addressed  to  the  people,  if  he  had  enjoined 
the  disputants  on  both  sides  to  be  silent,  if  he  had  been 
careful  not  to  risk  the  credit  of  the  Church  by  defining 
articles  which  had  hitherto  been  left  undetermined; 
Luther  would  probably  have  stopped  short  at  his  first 
discoveries :  he  would  not  have  been  forced,  in  self- 
defence,  to  venture  upon  new  ground,  and  the  whole 
controversy  might  possibly  have  died  away  insensibly, 
or,  being  confined  entirely  to  the  schools,  might  have 
been  carried  on  with  as  little  detriment  to  the  peace 
and  unity  of  the  Romish  Church  as  that  which  the 
Franciscans  maintained  with  the  Dominicans  concern- 
ing the  immaculate  conception,  or  that  between  the 
Jansenists  and  Jesuits  concerning  the  operations  of 
grace.  But  Leo,  by  fluctuating  between  these  opposite 
systems,  and  by  embracing  them  alternately,  defeated 
the  effects  of  both.  By  an  improper  exertion  of  au- 
thority, Luther  was  exasperated,  but  not  restrained. 
By  a  mistaken  exercise  of  lenity,  time  was  given  for 
his  opinions  to  spread,  but  no  progress  was  made 
towards  reconciling  him  to  the  Church  ;  and  even  the 
sentence  of  excommunication,  which  at  another  junc- 
ture might  have  been,  decisive,  was  delayed  so  long 
that  it  became  at  last  scarcely  an  object  of  terror. 

Such  a  series  of  errors  in  the  measures  of  a  court 
seldom  chargeable  with  mistaking  its  own  true  interest 
is  not  more  astonishing  than  the  wisdom  which  appeared 
in  Luther's  conduct.  Though  a  perfect  stranger  to  the 
maxims  of  worldly  wisdom,  and  incapable,  from  the 
impetuosity  of  his  temper,  of  observing  them,  he  was 
led  naturally,  by  the  method  in  which  he  made  his 
discoveries,  to  carry  on  his  operations  in  a  manner 


484  REIGN  OF  THE 

which  contributed  more  to  their  success  than  if  every 
step  he  took  had  been  prescribed  by  the  most  artful 
policy.  At  the  time  when  he  set  himself  to  op- 
pose Tetzel,  he  was  far  from  intending  that  reforma- 
tion which  he  afterwards  effected,  and  would  have 
trembled  with  horror  at  the  thoughts  of  what  at  last 
he  gloried  in  accomplishing.  The  knowledge  of  truth 
was  not  poured  into  his  mind  all  at  once  by  any 
special  revelation ;  he  acquired  it  by  industry  and 
meditation,  and  his  progress,  of  consequence,  was 
gradual.  *  The  doctrines  of  popery  are  so  closely  con- 
nected that  the  exposing  of  one  error  conducted  him 
naturally  to  the  detection  of  others;  and  all  the  parts 
of  that  artificial  fabric  were  so  united  together  that  the 
pulling  down  of  one  loosened  the  foundation  of  the 
rest  and  rendered  it  more  easy  to  overturn  them.  In 
confuting  the  extravagant  tenets  concerning  indul- 
gences, he  was  obliged  to  inquire  into  the  true  cause 
of  our  justification  and  acceptance  with  God.  The 
knowledge  of  that  discovered  to  him  by  degrees  the 
inutility  of  pilgrimages  and  penances ;  the  vanity  of 
relying  on  the  intercession  of  saints ;  the  impiety  of 
worshipping  them  ;  the  abuses  of  auricular  confession ; 
and  the  imaginary  existence  of  purgatory.  The  detec- 
tion of  so  many  errors  led  him,  of  course,  to  consider 
the  character  of  the  clergy  who  taught  them;  and  their 
exorbitant  wealth,  the  severe  injunction  of  celibacy, 
together  with  the  intolerable  rigor  of  monastic  vows, 
appeared  to  him  the  great  sources  of  their  corruption. 
From  thence  it  was  but  one  step  to  call  in  question  the 
divine  original  of  the  papal  power,  which  authorized 
and  supported  such  a  system  of  errors.  As  the  unavoid- 


EMPEROR  CHARLES  THE  FIFTH.     485 

able  result  of  the  whole,  he  disclaimed  the  infallibility 
of  the  pope,  the  decisions  of  schoolmen,  or  any  other 
human  authority,  and  appealed  to  the  word  of  God  as 
the  only  standard  of  theological  truth.  To  this  gradual 
progress  Luther  owed  his  success.  His  hearers  were 
not  shocked  at  first  by  any  proposition  too  repugnant 
to  their  ancient  prejudices  or  too  remote  from  estab- 
lished opinions.  They  were  conducted  insensibly  from 
one  doctrine  to  another.  Their  faith  and  conviction 
were  able  to  keep  pace  with  his  discoveries.  To  the 
same  cause  was  owing  the  inattention,  and  even  indif- 
ference, with  which  Leo  viewed  Luther's  first  proceed- 
ings. A  direct  or  violent  attack  upon  the  authority  of 
the  Church  would  at  once  have  drawn  upon  Luther 
the  whole  weight  of  its  vengeance ;  but  as  this  was  far 
from  his  thoughts,  as  he  continued  long  to  profess  great 
respect  for  the  pope,  and  made  repeated  offers  of  sub- 
mission to  his  decisions,  there  seemed  to  be  no  reason 
for  apprehending  that  he  would  prove  the  author  of 
any  desperate  revolt ;  and  he  was  suffered  to  proceed, 
step  by  step,  in  undermining  the  constitution  of  the 
Church,  until  the  remedy  applied  at  last  came  too  late 
to  produce  any  effect. 

But  whatever  advantages  Luther's  cause  derived, 
either  from  the  mistakes  of  his  adversaries  or  from 
his  own  good  conduct,  the  sudden  progress  and  firm 
establishment  of  his  doctrines  must  not  be  ascribed  to 
these  alone.  The  same  corruptions  in  the  Church  of 
Rome  which  he  condemned  had  been  attacked  long 
before  his  time.  The  same  opinions  which  he  now 
propagated  had  been  published  in  different  places,  and 
were  supported  by  the  same  arguments.  Waldus  in 
41* 


486  REIGN  OF  THE 

the  twelfth  century,  Wickliff  in  the  fourteenth,  and 
Huss  in  the  fifteenth,  had  inveighed  against  the  errors 
of  popery  with  great  boldness,  and  confuted  them  with 
more  ingenuity  and  learning  than  could  have  been 
expected  in  those  illiterate  ages  in  which  they  flour- 
ished. But  all  these  premature  attempts  towards  a 
reformation  proved  abortive.  Such  feeble  lights,  in- 
capable of  dispelling  the  darkness  which  then  covered 
the  Church,  were  soon  extinguished ;  and  though  the 
doctrines  jof  these  pious  men  produced  some  effects 
and  left  some  traces  in  the  countries  where  they  taught, 
they  were  neither  extensive  nor  considerable.  Many 
powerful  causes  contributed  to  facilitate  Luther's  pro- 
gress, which  either  did  not  exist,  or  did  not  operate 
with  full  force,  in  their  days ;  and  at  that  critical  and 
mature  juncture  when  he  appeared,  "circumstances  of 
every  kind  concurred  in  rendering  each  step  that  he 
took  successful. 

The  long  and  scandalous  schism  which  divided  the 
Church  during  the  latter  part  of  the  fourteenth  and 
the  beginning  of  the  fifteenth  centuries  had  a  great 
effect  in  diminishing  the  veneration  with  which  the 
world  had  been  accustomed  to  view  the  papal  dignity. 
Two  or  three  contending  pontiffs  roaming  about 
Europe  at  a  time,  fawning  on  the  princes  whom  they 
wanted  to  gain,  extorting  large  sums  of  money  from 
the  countries  which  acknowledged  their  authority, 
excommunicating  their  rivals,  and  cursing  those  who 
adhered  to  them,  discredited  their  pretensions  to  in- 
fallibility and  exposed  both  their  persons  and  their 
office  to  contempt.  The  laity,  to  whom  all  parties 
appealed,  came  to  learn  that  some  right  of  private 


EMPEROR    CHARLES   THE  FIFTH.  487 

judgment  belonged  to  them,  and  acquired  the  exercise 
of  it  so  far  as  to  choose,  among  these  infallible  guides, 
whom  they  would  please  to  follow.  The  proceedings 
of  the  councils  of  Constance  and  Basil  spread  this  dis- 
respect for  the  Romish  see  still  wider,  and,  by  their 
bold  exertion  of  authority  in  deposing  and  electing 
popes,  taught  men  that  there  was  in  the  Church  a 
jurisdiction  superior  even  to  the  papal  power,  which 
they  had  long  believed  to  be  supreme. 

The  wound  given  on  that  occasion  to  the  papal  au- 
thority was  scarcely  healed  up  when  the  pontificates  of 
Alexander  VI.  and  Julius  II.,  both  able  princes,  but 
detestable  ecclesiastics,  raised  new  scandal  in  Christen- 
dom. The  profligate  morals  of  the  former  in  private 
life,  the  fraud,  the  injustice,  and  cruelty  of  his  public 
administration,  place  him  on  a  level  with  those  tyrants 
whose  deeds  are  the  greatest  reproach  to  human  nature. 
The  latter,  though  a  stranger  to  the  odious  passions 
which  prompted  his  predecessor  to  commit  so  many 
unnatural  crimes,  was  under  the  dominion  of  a  restless 
and  ungovernable  ambition,  that  scorned  all  considera- 
tions of  gratitude,  of  decency,  or  of  justice,  when  they 
obstructed  the  execution. of  his  schemes.  It  was  hardly 
possible  to  be  firmly  persuaded  that  the  infallible  knowl- 
edge of  a  religion  whose  chief  precepts  are  purity  and 
humility  was  deposited  in  the  breasts  of  the  profligate 
Alexander  or  the  overbearing  Julius.  The  opinion 
of  those  who  exalted  the  authority  of  a  council  above 
that  of  the  pope  spread  wonderfully  under  their  pon- 
tificates; and  as  the  emperor  and  French  kings,  who 
were  alternately  engaged  in  hostilities  with  those  active 
pontiffs,  permitted  and  even  encouraged  their  subjects 


488  REIGN  OF  THE 

to  expose  their  vices  with  all  the  violence  of  invective 
and  all  the  petulance  of  ridicule,  men's  ears  being 
accustomed  to  these  were  not  shocked  with  the  bold 
or  ludicrous  discourses  of  Luther  and  his  followers 
concerning  the  papal  dignity. 

Nor  were  such  excesses  confined  to  the  head  of  the 
Church  alone.  Many  of  the  dignified  clergy,  secular 
as  well  as  regular,  being  the  younger  sons  of  noble 
families,  who  had  assumed  the  ecclesiastical  character 
for  no  other  reason  but  that  they  found  in  the  Church 
stations  of  great  dignity  and  affluence,  were  accustomed 
totally  to  neglect  the  duties  of  their  office,  and  indulged 
themselves  without  reserve  in  all  the  vices  to  which  great 
wealth  and  idleness  naturally  give  birth.  Though  the 
inferior  clergy  were  prevented  by  their  poverty  from 
imitating  the  expensive  luxury  of  their  superiors,  yet 
gross  ignorance  and  low  debauchery  rendered  them  as 
contemptible  as  the  others  were  odious. y  The  severe 
and  unnatural  law  of  celibacy,  to  which  both  were 
equally  subject,  occasioned  such  irregularities  that  in 
several  parts  of  Europe  the  concubinage  of  priests  was 
not  only  permitted,  but  enjoined.  The  employing  of 
a  remedy  so  contrary  to  the  precepts  of  the  Christian 

3°  The  corrupt  state  of  the  Church  prior  to  the  Reformation  is 
acknowledged  by  an  author  who  was  both  abundantly  able  to  judge 
concerning  this  matter  and  who  was  not  over-forward  to  confess  it. 
"  For  some  years,"  says  Bellarmine,  "  before  the  Lutheran  and  Cal- 
vinistic  heresies  were  published,  there  was  not  (as  contemporary 
authors  testify)  any  severity  in  ecclesiastical  judicatories,  any  disci- 
pline with  regard  to  morals,  any  knowledge  of  sacred  literature,  any 
reverence  for  divine  things  :  there  was  not  almost  any  religion  remain- 
ing." Bellarminus,  Concio  xxviii.,  Oper.,  torn.  vi.  col.  296,  edit.  Colon., 
1617,  apud  Gerdesii  Hist.  Evan.  Renovati,  vol.  i.  p.  25. 


EMPEROR    CHARLES    7W£  FIFTH.  489 

religion  is  the  strongest  proof  that  the  crimes  it  was 
intended  to  prevent  were  both  numerous  and  flagrant. 
Long  before  the  sixteenth  century,  many  authors  of 
great  name  and  authority  give  such  descriptions  of  the 
dissolute  morals  of  the  clergy  as  seem  almost  incredible 
in  the  present  age.31  The  voluptuous  lives  of  ecclesias- 
tics occasioned  great  scandal,  not  only  because  their 
manners  were  inconsistent  with  their  sacred  character, 
but  the  laity,  being  accustomed  to  see  several  of  them 
raised  from  the  lowest  stations  to  the  greatest  affluence, 
did  not  show  the  same  indulgence  to  their  excesses  as 
to  those  of  persons  possessed  of  hereditary  wealth  or 

31  Centum  Gravamina  Nation.  German,  in  Fascicule  Rer.  expetend. 
et  fugiendarum,  per  Ortuinum  Gratium,  vol.  i.  p.  361.  See  innumer- 
able passages  to  the  same  purpose  in  the  Appendix,  or  second  volume, 
published  by  Edw.  Brown.  See  also  Herm.  von  der  Hardt,  Hist.  Lit. 
Reform.,  pars  iii.,  and  the  vast  collections  of  Walchius  in  his  four 
volumes  of  Monumenta  Medii  JEvi,  Gotting.,  1757. — The  authors  I 
have  quoted  enumerate  the  vices  of  the  clergy.  When  they  ventured 
upon  actions  manifestly  criminal,  we  may  conclude  that  they  would 
be  less  scrupulous  with  respect  to  the  decorum  of  behavior.  Accord- 
ingly, their  neglect  of  the  decent  conduct  suitable  to  their  profession 
seems  to  have  given  great  offence.  In  order  to  illustrate  this,  I  shall 
transcribe  one  passage,  because  it  is  not  taken  from  any  author  whose 
professed  purpose  it  was  to  describe  the  improper  conduct  of  the 
clergy,  and  who,  from  prejudice  or  artifice,  may  be  supposed  to 
aggravate  the  charge  against  them.  The  emperor  Charles  IV.,  in  a 
letter  to  the  archbishop  of  Mentz,  A.D.  1359,  exhorting  him  to  reform 
the  disorders  of  the  clergy,  thus  expresses  himself:  "  De  Christ!  patri- 
monio,  ludos,  hastiludia  et  torneamenta  exercent ;  habitum  militarem 
cum  praetextis  aureis  et  argenteis  gestant,  et  calceos  militares ;  comam 
et  barbam  nutriunt,  et  nihil  quod  ad  vitam  et  ordinem  ecclesiasticum 
spectat,  ostendunt.  Militaribus  se  duntaxat  et  secularibus  actibus, 
vita  et  moribus,  in  suas  salutis  dispendium,  et  generale  populi  scanda- 
lum,  immiscent."  Codex  Diplomaticus  Anecdotorum,  per  Val.  Ferd. 
Gudenum,  410,  vo'.  iii.  p.  438. 
V* 


49° 


REIGN  OF   THE 


grandeur ;  and,  viewing  their  condition  with  more 
envy,  they  censured  their  crimes  with  greater  severity. 
Nothing,  therefore,  could  be  more  acceptable  to  Lu- 
ther's hearers  than  the  violence  with  which  he  exclaimed 
against  the  immoralities  of  churchmen  ;  and  every  per- 
son in  his  audience  could,  from  his  own  observation, 
confirm  the  truth  of  his  invectives. 

The  scandal  of  these  crimes  was  greatly  increased  by 
the  facility  with  which  such  as  committed  them  obtained 
pardon.  In  all  the  European  kingdoms,  the  importance 
of  the  civil  magistrate,  under  forms  of  government  ex- 
tremely irregular  and  turbulent,  made  it  necessary  to 
relax  the  rigor  of  justice ;  and,  upon  payment  of  a 
certain  fine  or  composition  prescribed  by  law,  judges 
were  accustomed  to  remit  further  punishment,  even  of 
the  most  atrocious  crimes.  The  court  of  Rome,  always 
attentive  to  the  means  of  augmenting  its  revenues, 
imitated  this  practice,  and,  by  a  preposterous  accom- 
modation of  it  to  religious  concerns,  granted  its  pardons 
to  such  transgressors  as  gave  a  sum  of  money  in  order 
to  purchase  them.  As  the  idea  of  a  composition  for 
crimes  was  then  familiar,  this  strange  traffic  was  so  far 
from  shocking  mankind,  that  it  soon  became  general ; 
and,  in  order  to  prevent  any  imposition  in  carrying  it 
on,  the  officers  of  the  Roman  chancery  published  a 
book  containing  the  precise  sum  to  be  exacted  for  the 
pardon  of  every  particular  sin.  A  deacon  guilty  of 
murder  was  absolved  for  twenty  crowns.  A  bishop,  or 
abbot,  might  assassinate  for  three  hundred  livres.  Any 
ecclesiastic  might  violate  his  vows  of  chastity,  even 
with  the  most  aggravating  circumstances,  for  the  third 
part  of  that  sum.  Even  such  shocking  crimes  as 


EMPEROR  CHARLES  THE  FIFTH. 


491 


occur  seldom  in  human  life,  and  perhaps  exist  only  in 
the  impure  imagination  of  a  casuist,  were  taxed  at  a 
very  moderate  rate.  When  a  more  regular  and  perfect 
mode  of  dispensing  justice  came  to  be  introduced  into 
civil  courts,  the  practice  of  paying  a  composition  for 
crimes  went  gradually  into  disuse ;  and,  mankind 
having  acquired  more  accurate  notions  concerning 
religion  and  morality,  the  conditions  on  which  the 
courts  of  Rome  bestowed  its  pardons  appeared  impious, 
and  were  considered  as  one  great  source  of  ecclesiastical 
corruption.32 

This  degeneracy  of  manners  among  the  clergy  might 
have  been  tolerated,  perhaps,  with  greater  indulgence, 
if  their  exorbitant  riches  and  power  had  not  enabled 
them  at  the  same  time  to  encroach  on  the  rights  of 
every  other  order  of  men.  It  is  the  genius  of  super- 
stition, fond  of  whatever  is  pompous  or  grand,  to  set  no 
bounds  to  its  liberality  towards  persons  whom  it  esteems 
sacred,  and  to  think  its  expressions  of  regard  defective 
unless  it  hath  raised  them  to  the  height  of  wealth  and 
authority.  Hence  flowed  the  extensive  revenues  and 
jurisdiction  possessed  by  the  Church  in  every  country 
in  Europe,  and  which  were  become  intolerable  to  the 
laity,  from  whose  undiscerning  bounty  they  were  at 
first  derived. 

The  burden,  however,  of  ecclesiastical  oppression 
had  fallen  with  such  peculiar  weight  on  the  Germans 
as  rendered  them,  though  naturally  exempt  from  levity 
and  tenacious  of  their  ancient  customs,  more  inclinable 

y  Fascicul.  Rer.  expet.  et  fug.,  i.  355. — J.  G.  Schelhornii  Amoenit. 
Literar.  Francof.,  1725,  vol.  ii.  p.  369. — Diction,  de  Bayle,  artic.  Banck 
et  T.uppius. — Texa  Cancel.  Romanoe,  edit.  Francof.,  1651,  passim. 


49  2 


REIGN  OF   THE 


than  any  people  in  Europe  to  listen  to  those  who  called 
on  them  to  assert  their  liberty.  During  the  long  con- 
tests between  the  popes  and  the  emperors  concerning 
the  right  of  investiture,  and  the  wars  which  these  occa- 
sioned, most  of  the  considerable  German  ecclesiastics 
joined  the  papal  faction ;  and  while  engaged  in  re- 
bellion against  the  head  of  the  empire,  they  seized 
the  imperial  domains  and  revenues  and  usurped  the 
imperial  jurisdiction  within  their  own  dioceses.  Upon 
the  re-establishment  of  tranquillity,  they  still  retained 
these  usurpations ;  as  if  by  the  length  of  an  unjust  pos- 
session they  had  acquired  a  legal  right  to  them.  The 
emperors,  too  feeble  to  wrest  them  out  of  their  hands, 
were  obliged  to  grant  the  clergy  fiefs  of  those  ample 
territories  ;  and  they  enjoyed  all  the  immunities,  as  well 
as  honors,  which  belonged  to  feudal  barons.  By  means 
of  these,  many  bishops  and  abbots  in  Germany  were 
not  only  ecclesiastics,  but  princes ;  and  their  character 
and  manners  partook  more  of  the  license  too  frequent 
among  the  latter,  than  of  the  sanctity  which  became 
the  former.33 

The  unsettled  state  of  government  in  Germany,  and 
the  frequent  wars  to  which  that  country  was  exposed, 
contributed  in  another  manner  towards  aggrandizing 
ecclesiastics.  The  only  property,  during  those  times 
of  anarchy,  which  enjoyed  security  from  the  oppression 
of  the  great,  or  the  ravages  of  war,  was  that  which 
belonged  to  the  Church.  This  was  owing  not  only  to 
the  great  reverence  for  the  sacred  character  prevalent  in 
those  ages,  but  to  a  superstitious  dread  of  the  sentence 
of  excommunication,  which  the  clergy  were  ready  to 

33  F.  Paul,  History  of  Ecclesiastical  Benefices,  p.  107. 


EMPEROR   CHARLES    THE  FIFTH. 


493 


denounce  against  all  who  invaded  their  possessions. 
Many,  observing  this,  made  a  surrender  of  their  lands 
to  ecclesiastics,  and,  consenting  to  hold  them  in  fee  of 
the  Church,  obtained,  as  its  vassals,  a  degree  of  safety 
which  without  this  device  they  were  unable  to  procure. 
By  such  an  increase  of  the  number  of  their  vassals,  the 
power  of  ecclesiastics  received  a  real  and  permanent 
augmentation ;  and,  as  lands  held  in  fee  by  the  limited 
tenures  common  in  those  ages  often  returned  to  the 
persons  on  whom  the  fief  depended,  considerable  addi- 
tions were  made  in  this  way  to  the  property  of  the 
clergy.34 

The  solicitude  of  the  clergy  in  providing  for  the 
safety  of  their  own  persons  was  still  greater  than  that 
which  they  displayed  in  securing  their  possessions; 
and  their  efforts  to  attain  it  were  still  more  successful. 
As  they  were  consecrated  to  the  priestly  office  with 
much  outward  solemnity,  were  distinguished  from  the 
rest  of  mankind  by  a  peculiar  garb  and  manner  of  life, 
and  arrogated  to  their  order  many  privileges  which  do 
not  belong  to  other  Christians,  they  naturally  became 
the  objects  of  excessive  veneration.  As  a  superstitious 
spirit  spread,  they  were  regarded  as  beings  of  a  supe- 
rior species  to  the  profane  laity,  whom  it  would  be 
impious  to  try  by  the  same  laws  or  to  subject  to  the 
same  punishments.  This  exemption  from  civil  juris- 
diction, granted  at  first  to  ecclesiastics  as  a  mark  of 
respect,  they  soon  claimed  as  a  point  of  right.  This 
valuable  immunity  of  the  priesthood  is  asserted  not 
only  in  the  decrees  of  popes  and  councils,  but  was 

34  F.  Paul,  Hist,  of  Eccles.  Benef.,  p.  66. — Boulainvilliers,  Etat  de 
France,  torn.  i.  p.  169,  Lond.,  1737. 
Charles.— VOL.  I.  42 


494  REIGN  OF  THE 

confirmed  in  the  most  ample  form  by  many  of  the 
greatest  emperors.35  As  long  as  the  clerical  character 
remained,  the  person  of  an  ecclesiastic  was  in  some 
degree  sacred ;  and  unless  he  were  degraded  from  his 
office  the  unhallowed  hand  of  the  civil  judge  durst  not 
touch  him.  But,  as  the  power  of  degradation  was 
lodged  in  the  spiritual  courts,  the  difficulty  and  ex- 
pense of  obtaining  such  a  sentence  too  often  secured 
absolute  impunity  to  offenders.  Many  assumed  the 
clerical  character  for  no  other  reason  than  that  it 
might  screen  them  from  the  punishment  which  their 
actions  deserved.36  The  German  nobles  complained 
loudly  that  these  anointed  malefactors,  as  they  called 
them,37  seldom  suffered  capitally,  even  for  the  most 
atrocious  crimes ;  and  their  independence  of  the  civil 
magistrate  is  often  mentioned  in  the  remonstrances  of 
the  diets,  as  a  privilege  equally  pernicious  to  society 
and  to  the  morals  of  the  clergy. 

While  the  clergy  asserted  the  privileges  of  their  own 
order  with  so  much  zeal,  they  made  continual  encroach- 
ments upon  those  of  the  laity.  All  causes  relative  to 
matrimony,  to  testaments,  to  usury,  to  legitimacy  of 
birth,  as  well  as  those  which  concerned  ecclesiastical 
revenues,  were  thought  to  be  so  connected  with  re- 
ligion that  they  could  be  tried  only  in  the  spiritual 
courts.  Not  satisfied  with  this  ample  jurisdiction, 
which  extended  to  one- half  of  the  subjects  that  gave 
rise  to  litigation  among  men,  the  clergy,  with  wonder- 
ful industry,  and  by  a  thousand  inventions,  endeavored 

35  Goldasti  Constitut.  Imperial.,  Francof.,  1673,  vol.  ii.  pp.  92,  107. 
s6  Rymer's  Foedera,  vol.  xiii.  p.  532. 
37  Centum  Gravam.,  §  31. 


EMPEROR  CHARLES  THE  FIFTH. 


495 


to  draw  all  other  causes  into  their  own  courts.38  As 
they  had  engrossed  almost  the  whole  learning  known 
in  the  Dark  Ages,  the  spiritual  judges  were  commonly 
so  far  superior  in  knowledge  and  abilities  to  those  em- 
ployed in  the  secular  courts  that  the  people  at  first 
favored  any  stretch  that  was  made  to  bring  their  affairs 
under  the  cognizance  of  a  judicature  on  the  decisions 
of  which  they  could  rely  with  more  perfect  confidence 
than  on  those  of  the  civil  courts.  Thus,  the  interest 
of  the  Church  and  the  inclination  of  the  people,  con- 
curring to  elude  the  jurisdiction  of  the  lay-magistrate, 
soon  reduced  it  almost  to  nothing.39'  By  means  of 
this,  vast  power  accrued  to  ecclesiastics,  and  no  incon- 
siderable addition  was  made  to  their  revenue  by  the 
sums  paid  in  those  ages  to  the  persons  who  adminis- 
tered justice. 

The  penalty  by  which  the  spiritual  courts  enforced 
their  sentences  added  great  weight  and  terror  to  their 
jurisdiction.  The  censure  of  excommunication  was 
instituted  originally  for  preserving  the  purity  of  the 
Church;  that  obstinate  offenders,  whose  impious  tenets 
or  profane  lives  were  a  reproach  to  Christianity,  might 
be  cut  off  from  the  society  of  the  faithful :  this,  eccle- 
siastics did  not  scruple  to  convert  into  an  engine  for 
promoting  their  own  power,  and  they  inflicted  it  on 
the  most  frivolous  occasions.  Whoever  despised  any 
of  their  decisions,  even  concerning  civil  matters,  im- 
mediately incurred  this  dreadful  censure,  which  not 
only  excluded  them  from  all  the  privileges  of  a  Chris- 
tian, but  deprived  them  of  their  rights  as  men  and 

s3  Giannone,  History  of  Naples,  book  xix.  g  3. 
39  Centum  Gravam.,  $  9,  56,  64. 


496  REIGN  OF  THE 

citizens;40  and  the  dread  of  this  rendered  even  the 
most  fierce  and  turbulent  spirits  obsequious  to  the 
authority  of  the  Church. 

Nor  did  the  clergy  neglect  the  proper  methods  of 
preserving  the  wealth  and  power  which  they  had  ac- 
quired with  such  industry  and  address.  The  posses- 
sions of  the  Church,  being  consecrated  to  God,  were 
declared  to  be  unalienable ;  so  that  the  funds  of  a 
society  which  was  daily  gaining  and  could  never  lose, 
grew  to  be  immense.  In  Germany,  it  was  computed 
that  the"  ecclesiastics  had  got  into  their  hands  more 
than  one-half  of  the  national  property.41  In  other 
countries  the  proportion  varied ;  but  the  share  belong- 
ing to  the  Church  was  everywhere  prodigious.  These 
vast  possessions  were  not  subject  to  the  burdens  im- 
posed on  the  lands  of  the  laity.  The  German  clergy 
were  exempted  by  law  from  all  taxes ;  ^  and  if,  on  an 
extraordinary  emergence,  ecclesiastics  were  pleased  to 
grant  some  aid  towards  supplying  the  public  exigencies, 
this  was  considered  as  a  free  gift  flowing  from  their 
own  generosity,  which  the  civil  magistrate  had  no  title 
to  demand,  far  less  to  exact.  In  consequence  of  this 
strange  solecism  in  government,  the  laity  in  Germany 
had  the  mortification  to  find  themselves  loaded  with 
excessive  impositions,  because  such  as  possessed  the 
greatest  property  were  freed  from  any  obligation  to 
support  or  defend  the  state. 

Grievous,  however,  as  the  exorbitant  wealth  and 
numerous  privileges  of  the  clerical  order  were  to  the 

4°  Centum  Gravam.,  g  34.  4*  Ibid.,  $  28. 

4*  Id.,  ibid.— Goldasti  Const.  Imper.,  ii.  79,  108. — Pfeffel,  Hist,  du 
Droit  Publ.,  350,  374. 


EMPEROR  CHARLES  THE  FIFTH. 


497 


other  members  of  the  Germanic  body,  they  would 
have  reckoned  it  some  mitigation  of  the  evil  if  these 
had  been  possessed  only  by  ecclesiastics  residing 
among  themselves,  who  would  have  been  less  apt  to 
make  an  improper  use  of  their  riches  or  to  exercise 
their  rights  with  unbecoming  rigor.  But  the  bishops 
of  Rome  having  early  put  in  a  claim,  the  boldest  that 
ever  human  ambition  suggested,  of  being  supreme 
and  infallible  heads  of  the  Christian  Church,  they,  by 
their  profound  policy  and  unwearied  perseverance,  by 
their  address  in  availing  themselves  of  every  circum- 
stance which  occurred,  by  taking  advantage  of  the 
superstition  of  some  princes,  of  the  necessities  of 
others,  and  of  the  credulity  of  the  people,  at  length 
established  their  pretensions,  in  opposition  both  to  the 
interest  and  common  sense  of  mankind.  Germany 
was  the  country  which  these  ecclesiastical  sovereigns 
governed  with  most  absolute  authority.  They  excom- 
municated and  deposed  some  of  its  most  illustrious 
emperors,  and  excited  their  subjects,  their  ministers, 
and  even  their  children,  to  take  arms  against  them. 
Amidst  these  contests,  the  popes  continually  extended 
their  own  immunities,  spoiling  the  secular  princes 
gradually  of  their  most  valuable  prerogatives ;  and  the 
German  Church  felt  all  the  rigor  of  that  oppression 
which  flows  from  subjection  to  foreign  dominion  and 
foreign  exactions. 

The  right  of  conferring  benefices,  which  the  popes 
usurped  during  that  period  of  confusion,  was  an  acqui- 
sition of  great  importance,  and  exalted  the  ecclesiastical 
power  upon  the  ruins  of  the  temporal.  The  emperors 
and  other  princes  of  Germany  had  long  been  in  pos- 
42* 


498  REIGN  OF  THE 

session  of  this  right,  which  served  to  increase  both 
their  authority  and  their  revenue;  but  by  wresting  it 
out  of  their  hands  the  popes  were  enabled  to  fill  the 
empire  with  their  own  creatures;  they  accustomed  a 
great  body  of  every  prince's  subjects  to  depend,  not 
upon  him,  but  upon  the  Roman  see ;  they  bestowed 
upon  strangers  the  richest  benefices  in  every  country, 
and  drained  their  wealth  to  supply  the  luxury  of  a 
foreign  court.  Even  the  patience  of  the  most  super- 
stitious ages  could  no  longer  bear  such  oppression ; 
and  so  loud  and  frequent  were  the  complaints  and 
murmurs  of  the  Germans  that  the  popes,  afraid  of 
irritating  them  too  far,  consented,  contrary  to  their 
usual  practice,  to  abate  somewhat  of  their  pretensions, 
and  to  rest  satisfied  with  the  right  of  nomination  to 
such  benefices  as  happened  to  fall  vacant  during  six 
months  in  the  year,  leaving  the  disposal  of  the  re- 
mainder to  the  princes  and  other  legal  patrons.43 

But  the  court  of  Rome  easily  found  expedients  for 
eluding  an  agreement  which  put  such  restraints  on  its 
power.  The  practice  of  reserving  certain  benefices  in 
every  country  to  the  pope's  immediate  nomination, 
which  had  been  long  known,  and  often  complained  of, 
was  extended  far  beyond  its  ancient  bounds.  All  the 
benefices  possessed  by  cardinals  or  any  of  the  numer- 
ous officers  in  the  Roman  court,  those  held  by  persons 
who  happened  to  die  at  Rome,  or  within  forty  miles  of 
that  city  on  their  journey  to  or  from  it,  such  as  became 
vacant  by  translation,  with  many  others,  were  included 
in  the  number  of  reserved  benefices.  Julius  II.  and 

«  F.  Paul,  Hist,  of  Eccles.  Benef.,  204. — Gold.,  Constit.  Imper., 
i.  408. 


EMPEROR   CHARLES    THE  FIFTH. 


499 


Leo  X.,  stretching  the  matter  to  the  utmost,  often  col- 
lated to  benefices  where  the  right  of  reservation  had 
not  been  declared,  on  pretence  of  having  mentally  re- 
served this  privilege  to  themselves.  The  right  of  reser- 
vation, however,  even  with  this  extension,  had  certain 
limits,  as  it  could  be  exercised  only  where  the  benefice 
was  actually  vacant ;  and  therefore,  in  order  to  render 
the  exertion  of  papal  power  unbounded,  expectative 
graces,  or  mandates  nominating  a  person  to  succeed  to 
a  benefice  upon  the  first  vacancy  that  should  happen, 
were  brought  into  use.  By  means  of  these,  Germany 
was  filled  with  persons  who  were  servilely  dependent 
on  the  court  of  Rome,  from  which  they  had  received 
such  reversionary  grants ;  princes  were  defrauded,  in 
a  great  degree,  of  their  prerogatives;  the  rights  of 
lay-patrons  were  preoccupied,  and  rendered  almost 
entirely  vain.44 

The  manner  in  which  these  extraordinary  powers 
were  exercised  rendered  them  still  more  odious  and  in- 
tolerable. The  avarice  and  extortion  of  the  court  of 
Rome  were  become  excessive,  almost  to  a  proverb. 
The  practice  of  selling  benefices  was  so  notorious  that 
no  pains  were  taken  to  conceal  or  to  disguise  it.  Com- 
panies of  merchants  openly  purchased  the  benefices  of 
different  districts  in  Germany  from  the  pope's  minis- 
ters, and  retailed  them  at  an  advanced  price.45  Pious 
men  beheld  with  deep  regret  these  simoniacal  transac- 
tions, so  unworthy  the  ministers  of  a  Christian  Church ; 

44  Centum  Gravam.,  §  21. — Fascic.  Rer.  expet.,  etc.,  334. — Gold., 
Const.  Imper.,  i.  391,  404,  405. — F.  Paul,  Hist,  of  Eccl.  Benef.,  167, 
199. 

45  Fascic.  Rer.  expet.,  i.  359. 


500 


REIGN  OF  THE 


while  politicians  complained  of  the  loss  sustained  by 
the  exportation  of  so  much  wealth  in  that  irreligious 
traffic. 

The  sums,  indeed,  which  the  court  of  Rome  drew 
by  its  stated  and  legal  impositions  from  all  the  coun- 
tries acknowledging  its  authority  were  so  considerable 
that  it  is  not  strange  that  princes,  as  well  as  their  sub- 
jects, murmured  at  the  smallest  addition  made  to  them 
by  unnecessary  or  illicit  means.  Every  ecclesiastical 
person, .upon  his  admission  to  his  benefice,  paid  annats, 
or  one  year's  produce  of  his  living,  to  the  pope ;  and, 
as  that  tax  was  exacted  with  great  rigor,  its  amount  was 
very  great.  To  this  must  be  added  the  frequent  de- 
mands made  by  the  popes  of  free  gifts  from  the  clergy, 
together  with  the  extraordinary  levies  of  tenths  upon 
ecclesiastical  benefices,  on  pretence  of  expeditions 
against  the  Turks,  seldom  intended  or  carried  into  ex- 
ecution ;  and,  from  the  whole,  the  vast  proportion  of 
the  revenues  of  the  Church  which  flowed  continually 
to  Rome  may  be  estimated. 

Such  were  the  dissolute  manners',  the  exorbitant 
wealth,  the  enormous  power  and  privileges,  of  the 
clergy  before  the  Reformation ;  such  the  oppressive 
rigor  of  that  dominion  which  the  popes  had  established 
over  the  Christian  world  ;  and  such  the  sentiments  con- 
cerning them  that  prevailed  in  Germany  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  sixteenth  century.  Nor  has  this  sketch 
been  copied  from  the  controversial  writers  of  that  age, 
who,  in  the  heat  of  disputation,  may  be  suspected  of 
having  exaggerated  the  errors  or  of  having  misrepre- 
sented the  conduct  of  that  Church  which  they  labored 
to  overturn  :  it  is  formed  upon  more  authentic  evidence, 


EMPEROR    CHARLES    THE  FIFTH.  501 

— upon  the  memorials  and  remonstrances  of  the  imperial 
diets,  enumerating  the  grievances  under  which  the  em- 
pire groaned,  in  order  to  obtain  the  redress  of  them. 
Dissatisfaction  must  have  arisen  to  a  great  height  among 
the  people,  when  these  grave  assemblies  expressed  them- 
selves with  that  degree  of  acrimony  which  abounds  in 
their  remonstrances ;  and  if  they  demanded  the  aboli- 
tion of  these  enormities  with  so  much  vehemence,  the 
people,  we  may  be  assured,  uttered  their  sentiments  and 
desires  in  bolder  and  more  virulent  language. 

To  men  thus  prepared  for  shaking  off  the  yoke, 
Luther  addressed  himself  with  certainty  of  success. 
As  they  had  long  felt  its  weight,  and  had  borne  it 
with  impatience,  they  listened  with  joy  to  the  first  offer 
of  procuring  them  deliverance.  Hence  proceeded  the 
fond  and  eager  reception  that  his  doctrines  met  with, 
and  the  rapidity  with  which  they  spread  over  all  the 
provinces  of  Germany.  Even  the  impetuosity  and 
fierceness  of  Luther's  spirit,  his  confidence  in  asserting 
his  own  opinions,  and  the  arrogance  as  well  as  con- 
tempt wherewith  he  treated  all  them  who  differed  from 
him,  which  in  ages  of  greater  moderation  and  refine- 
ment have  been  reckoned  defects  in  the  character  of 
that  Reformer,  did  not  appear  excessive  to  his  contem- 
poraries, whose  minds  were  strongly  agitated  by  those 
interesting  controversies  which  he  carried  on,  and  who 
had  themselves  endured  the  rigor  of  papal  tyranny  and 
seen  the  corruptions  in  the  Church  against  which  he 
exclaimed. 

Nor  were  they  offended  at  that  gross  scurrility  with 
which  his  polemical  writings  are  filled,  or  at  the  low 
buffoonery  which  he  sometimes  introduces  into  his 


502 


REIGN  OF  THE 


gravest  discourses.  No  dispute  was  managed  in  those 
rude  times  without  a  large  portion  of  the  former ;  and 
the  latter  was  common,  even  on  the  most  solemn  occa- 
sions and  in  treating  the  most  sacred  subjects.  So  far 
were  either  of  these  from  doing  hurt  to  his  cause  that 
invective  and  ridicule  had  some  effect,  as  well  as  more 
laudable  arguments,  in  exposing  the  errors  of  popery 
and  in  determining  mankind  to  abandon  them. 

Besides  all  these  causes  of  Luther's  rapid  progress, 
arising  from  the  nature  of  his  enterprise  and  the  junc- 
ture, at  which  he  undertook  it,  he  reaped  advantage 
from  some  foreign  and  adventitious  circumstances,  the 
beneficial  influence  of  which  none  of  his  forerunners  in 
the  same  course  enjoyed.  Among  these  may  be  reckoned 
the  invention  of  the  art  of  printing,  about  half  a  century 
before  his  time.  By  this  fortunate  discovery,  the  facility 
of  acquiring  and  of  propagating  knowledge  was  won- 
derfully increased  ;  and  Luther's  books,  which  must 
otherwise  have  made  their  way  slowly  and  with  uncer- 
tainty into  distant  countries,  spread  out  at  once  all 
over  Europe.  Nor  were  they  read  only  by  the  rich 
and  the  learned,  who  alone  had  access  to  books  before 
that  invention :  they  got  into  the  hands  of  the  people, 
who,  upon  this  appeal  to  them  as  judges,  ventured  to 
examine  and  to  reject  many  doctrines  which  they  had 
formerly  been  required  to  believe  without  being  taught 
to  understand  them. 

The  revival  of  learning  at  the  same  period  was  a  cir- 
cumstance extremely  friendly  to  the  Reformation.  The 
study  of  the  ancient  Greek  and  Roman  authors,  by  en- 
lightening the  human  mind  with  liberal  and  sound 
knowledge,  roused  it  from  that  profound  lethargy  in 


EMPEROR  CHARLES  THE  FIFTH. 


5°3 


which  it  had  been  sunk  during  several  centuries.  Man- 
kind seem,  at  that  period,  to  have  recovered  the  powers 
of  inquiring  and  of  thinking  for  themselves,  faculties 
of  which  they  had  long  lost  the  use ;  and,  fond  of  the 
acquisition,  they  exercised  them  with  great  boldness 
upon  all  subjects.  They  were  not  now  afraid  of  enter- 
ing an  uncommon  path  or  of  embracing  a  new  opinion. 
Novelty  appears  rather  to  have  been  a  recommendation 
of  a  doctrine ;  and,  instead  of  being  startled  when  the 
daring  hand  of  Luther  drew  aside  or  tore  the  veil  which 
covered  and  established  errors,  the  genius  of  the  age 
applauded  and  aided  the  attempt.  Luther,  though  a 
stranger  to  elegance  in  taste  or  composition,  zealously 
promoted  the  cultivation  of  ancient  literature ;  and, 
sensible  of  its  being  necessary  to  the  right  understand- 
ing of  the  Scriptures,  he  himself  had  acquired  con- 
siderable knowledge  both  in  the  Hebrew  and  Greek 
tongues.  Melancthon,  and  some  other  of  his  disci- 
ples, were  eminent  proficients  in  the  polite  arts ;  and, 
as  the  same  ignorant  monks  who  opposed  the  intro- 
duction of  learning  into  Germany  set  themselves  with 
equal  fierceness  against  Luther's  opinions,  and  declared 
the  good  reception  of  the  latter  to  be  the  effect  of  the 
progress  which  the  former  had  made,  the  cause  of 
learning  and  of  the  Reformation  came  to  be  considered 
as  closely  connected  with  each  other,  and,  in  every 
country,  had  the  same  friends  and  the  same  enemies. 
This  enabled  the  Reformers  to  carry  on  the  contest 
at  first  with  great  superiority.  Erudition,  industry, 
accuracy  of  sentiment,  purity  of  composition,  even  wit 
and  raillery,  were  almost  wholly  on  their  side,  and 
triumphed  with  ease  over  illiterate  monks,  whose  rudf 


5°4 


REIGN  OF   THE 


arguments,  expressed  in  a  perplexed  and  barbarous 
style,  were  found  insufficient  for  the  defence  of  a  sys- 
tem the  errors  of  which  all  the  art  and  ingenuity  of  its 
later  and  inore  learned  advocates  have  not  been  able 
to  palliate. 

That  bold  spirit  of  inquiry,  which  the  revival  of 
learning  excited  in  Europe,  was  so  favorable  to  the 
Reformation  that  Luther  was  aided  in  his  progress,  and 
mankind  were  prepared  to  embrace  his  doctrines,  by 
persons  who  did  not  wish  success  to  his  undertaking. 
The  greater  part  of  the  ingenious  men  who  applied  to 
the  study  of  ancient  literature  towards  the  close  of  the 
fifteenth  century  and  the  beginning  of  the  sixteenth, 
though  they  had  no  intention,  and  perhaps  no  wish, 
to  overturn  the  established  system  of  religion,  had 
discovered  the  absurdity  of  many  tenets  and  practices 
authorized  by  the  Church,  and  perceived  the  futility  of 
those  arguments  by  which  illiterate  monks  endeavored 
to  defend  them.  Their  contempt  of  these  advocates  for 
the  received  errors  led  them  frequently  to  expose  the 
opinions  which  they  supported,  and  to  ridicule  their 
ignorance  with  great  freedom  and  severity.  By  this, 
men  were  prepared  for  the  more  serious  attacks  made 
upon  them  by  Luther ;  and  their  reverence  both  for  the 
doctrines  and  persons  against  whom  he  inveighed  was 
considerably  abated.  This  was  particularly  the  case 
in  Germany.  When  the  first  attempts  were  made  to 
revive  a  taste  for  ancient  learning  in  that  country,  the 
ecclesiastics  there,  who  were  still  more  ignorant  than 
their  brethren  on  the  other  side  of  the  Alps,  set  them- 
selves to  oppose  its  progress  with  more  active  zeal ;  and 
the  patrons  of  the  new  studies,  in  return,  attacked  them 


EMPEROR  CHARLES  THE  FIFTH. 


5°5 


with  greater  violence.  In  the  writings  of  Reuchlin, 
Hutten,  and  the  other  revivers  of  learning  in  Germany, 
the  corruptions  of  the  Church  of  Rome  are  censured 
with  an  acrimony  of  style  little  inferior  to  that  of 
Luther  himself.46 

From  the  same  cause  proceeded  the  frequent  stric- 
tures of  Erasmus  upon  the  errors  of  the  Church,  as 
well  as  upon  the  ignorance  and  vices  of  the  clergy. 
His  reputation  and  authority  were  so  high  in  Europe 
at  the  beginning  of  the  sixteenth  century,  and  his 
works  were  read  with  such  universal  admiration,  that 
the  effect  of  these  deserves  to  be  mentioned  as  one 
of  the  circumstances  which  contributed  considerably 
towards  Luther's  success.  Erasmus,  having  been  des- 
tined for  the  Church  and  trained  up  in  the  knowledge 
of  ecclesiastical  literature,  applied  himself  more  to 
theological  inquiries  than  any  of  the  revivers  of  learn- 
ing in  that  age.  His  acute  judgment  and  extensive 
erudition  enabled  him  to  discover  many  errors  both  in 
the  doctrine  and  worship  of  the  Romish  Church.  Some 
of  these  he  confuted  with  great  solidity  of  reasoning 
and  force  of  eloquence.  Others  he  treated  as  objects 
of  ridicule,  and  turned  against  them  that  irresistible 
torrent  of  popular  and  satirical  wit  of  which  he  had 
the  command.  There  was  hardly  any  opinion  or  prac- 
tice of  the  Romish  Church  which .  Luther  endeavored 
to  reform,  but  what  had  been  previously  animadverted 
upon  by  Erasmus  and  had  afforded  him  subject  either  of 
censure  or  of  raillery.  Accordingly,  when  Luther  first 
began  his  attack  upon  the  Church,  Erasmus  seemed  to 

&  Gerdesius,  Hist.  Evang.  Renov.,  vol.  i.  pp.  141,  157. — Seckend., 
lib.  i.  p.  103. — Von  der  Hardt,  Hist.  Literar.  Reform.,  pars  ii. 
Charles. — Vol..  I. — w  43 


506  REIGN  OF  THE 

applaud  his  conduct;  he  courted  the  friendship  of 
several  of  his  disciples  and  patrons,  and  condemned 
the  behavior  and  spirit  of  his  adversaries.47  He  con- 
curred openly  with  him  in  inveighing  against  the 
school  divines,  as  the  teachers  of  a  system  equally 
unedifying  and  obscure.  He  joined  him  in  endeav- 
oring to  turn  the  attention  of  men  to  the  study  of 
the  Holy  Scriptures  as  the  only  standard  of  religious 
truth.*8 

Various  circumstances,  however,  prevented  Erasmus 
from  holding  the  same  course  with  Luther.  The  natural 
timidity  of  his  temper,  his  want  of  that  strength  of 
mind  which  alone  can  prompt  a  man  to  assume  the 
character  of  a  reformer,49  his  excessive  deference  for 
persons  in  high  stations,  his  dread  of  losing  the  pen- 
sions and  other  emoluments  which  their  liberality  had 
conferred  upon  him,  his  extreme  love  of  peace,  and 
hopes  of  reforming  abuses  gradually  and  by  gentle 
methods,  all  concurred  in  determining  him  not  only 
to  repress  and  to  moderate  the  zeal  with  which  he  had 
once  been  animated  against  the  errors  of  the  Church,50 
but  to  assume  the  character  of  a  mediator  between 

47  Seckend.,  lib.  i.  pp.  40,  96. 

4s  Von  der  Hardt,  Histor.  Literar.  Reform.,  pars  i. — Gerdes.,  Hist. 
Evang.  Renov.,  i.  147. 

49  Erasmus  himself  is  candid  enough  to  acknowledge  this.  "  Luther," 
says  he,  "  has  given  us  many  a  wholesome  doctrine,  and  many  a  good 
counsel.  I  wish  he  had  not  defeated  the  effect  of  them  by  intolerable 
faults.  But  if  he  had  written  every  thing  in  the  most  unexceptionable 
manner,  I  had  no  inclination  to  die  for  the  sake  of  truth.  Every  man 
hath  not  the  courage  requisite  to  make  a  martyr ;  and  I  am  afraid 
that,  if  I  were  put  to  the  trial,  I  should  imitate  St.  Peter." — Epist. 
Erasmi,  in  Jortin's  Life  of  Erasmus,  vol.  i.  p.  273. 

5°  Jortin's  Life  of  Erasmus,  vol.  i.  p.  258. 


EMPEROR    CHARLES   THE  FIFTH.          507 

Luther  and  his  opponents.  But  though  Erasmus  soon 
began  to  censure  Luther  as  too  daring  and  impetuous, 
and  was  at  last  prevailed  upon  to  write  against  him,  he 
must  nevertheless  be  considered  as  his  forerunner  and 
auxiliary  in  this  war  upon  the  Church.  He  first  scat- 
tered the  seeds  which  Luther  cherished  and  brought  to 
maturity.  His  raillery  and  oblique  censures  prepared 
the  way  for  Luther's  invectives  and  more  direct  attacks. 
In  this  light  Erasmus  appeared  to  the  zealous  defenders 
of  the  Romish  Church  in  his  own  times.51  In  this  light 
he  must  be  considered  by  every  person  conversant  in 
the  history  of  that  period. 

In  this  long  enumeration  of  the  circumstances  which 
combined  in  favoring  the  progress  of  Luther's  opinions 
or  in  weakening  the  resistance  of  his  adversaries,  I  have 
avoided  entering  into  any  discussion  of  the  theological 
doctrines  of  popery,  and  have  not  attempted  to  show 
how  repugnant  they  are  to  the  spirit  of  Christianity, 
and  how  destitute  of  any  foundation  in  reason,  in  the 
word  of  God,  or  in  the  practice  of  the  primitive 
Church ;  leaving  those  topics  entirely  to  ecclesiastical 
historians,  to  whose  province  they  peculiarly  belong. 
But  when  we  add  the  effect  of  these  religious  consid- 
erations to  the  influence  of  political  causes,  it  is  obvious 
that  the  united  operation  of  both  on  the  human  mind 
must  have  been  sudden  and  irresistible.  Though,  to 
Luther's  contemporaries,  who  were  too  near,  perhaps, 
to  the  scene,  or  too  deeply  interested  in  it,  to  trace 
causes  with  accuracy  or  to  examine  them  with  coolness, 
the  rapidity  with  which  his  opinions  spread  appeared 
to  be  so  unaccountable  that  some  of  them  imputed  it 

S1  Von  der  Hardt,  Hist.  Literar.  Reform.,  pars  i.  p.  2. 


5o8  REIGN  OF  THE 

to  a  certain  uncommon  and  malignant  position  of  the 
stars,  which  scattered  the  spirit  of  giddiness  and  inno- 
vation over  the  world, s*  it  is  evident  that  the  success  of 
the  Reformation  was  the  natural  effect  of  many  power- 
ful causes  prepared  by  peculiar  providence  and  happily 
conspiring  to  that  end.  This  attempt  to  investigate 
these  causes  and  to  throw  light  on  an  event  so  singular 
and  important  will  not,  perhaps,  be  deemed  an  unneces- 
sary digression.  I  return  from  it  to  the  course  of  the 
history. 

The  diet  of  Worms  conducted  its  deliberations  with 
that  slow  formality  peculiar  to  such  assemblies.  Much 
time  was  spent  in  establishing  some  regulations  with 
regard  to  the  internal  police  of  the  empire.  The 
jurisdiction  of  the  imperial  chamber  was  confirmed, 
and  the  forms  of  its  proceeding  rendered  more  fixed 
and  regular.  A  council  of  regency  was  appointed  to 
assist  Ferdinand  in  the  government  of  the  empire 
during  any  occasional  absence  of  the  emperor;  which, 
from  the  extent  of  the  emperor's  dominions,  as  well  as 
the  multiplicity  of  his  affairs,  was  an  event  that  might 
be  frequently  expected.53  The  state  of  religion  was 
then  taken  into  consideration.  There  were  not  want- 
ing some  plausible  reasons  which  might  have  induced 
Charles  to  have  declared  himself  the  protector  of 
Luther's  cause,  or  at  least  to  have  connived  at  its  pro- 
gress. If  he  had  possessed  no  other  dominions  but 
those  which  belonged  to  him  in  Germany,  and  no 
other  crown  besides  the  imperial,  he  might  have  been 

53  Jovii  Historia,  Lut.,  1553,  fol.,  p.  134, 

53  Pont.  Heuter.  Rer.  Austr.,  lib.  viii.  c.  u,  p.  195. — Pfeffel,  Abregd 
Chronol.,  p.  598. 


EMPEROR    CHARLES   THE  FIFTH. 


5°9 


disposed,  perhaps,  to  favor  a  man  who  asserted  so 
boldly  the  privileges  and  immunities  for  which  the 
empire  had  struggled  so  long  with  the  popes.  But  the 
vast  and  dangerous  schemes  which  Francis  I.  was  form- 
ing against  Charles  made  it  necessary  for  him  to  regu- 
late his  conduct  by  views  more  extensive  than  those 
which  would  have  suited  a  German  prince ;  and,  it 
being  of  the  utmost  importance  to  secure  the  pope's 
friendship,  this  determined  him  to  treat  Luther  with 
great  severity,  as  the  most  effectual  method  of  soothing 
Leo  into  a  concurrence  with  his  measures.  His  eager- 
ness to  accomplish  this  rendered  him  not  unwilling  to 
gratify  the  papal  legates  in  Germany,  who  insisted 
that,  without  any  delay  or  formal  deliberation,  the 
diet  ought  to  condemn  a  man  whom  the  pope  had 
already  excommunicated  as  an  incorrigible  heretic. 
Such  an  abrupt  manner  of  proceeding,  however,  being 
deemed  unprecedented  and  unjust  by  the  members  of 
the  diet,  they  made  a  point  of  Luther's  appearing  in 
person  and  declaring  whether  he  adhered  or  not  to 
those  opinions  which  had  drawn  upon  him  the  censures 
of  the  Church.54  Not  only  the  emperor,  but  all  the 
princes  through  whose  territories  he  had  to  pass, 
granted  him  a  safe-conduct;  and  Charles  wrote  to  him 
at  the  same  time,  requiring  his  immediate  attendance 
on  the  diet,  and  renewing  his  promises  of  protection 
from  any  injury  or  violence.55  Luther  did  not  hesitate 
one  moment  about  yielding  obedience,  and  set  out  for 
Worms,  attended  by  the  herald  who  had  brought  the 
emperor's  letter  and  safe-conduct.  While  on  his  jour- 
ney, many  of  his  friends,  whom  the  fate  of  Huss  under 

54  P.  Martyr.  Ep.,  722.  55  Luth.,  Oper.,  ii.  411. 

43* 


5  io  REIGN  OF.  THE 

similar  circumstances,  and  notwithstanding  the  same 
security  of  an  imperial  safe-conduct,  filled  with  solici- 
tude, advised  and  entreated  him  not  to  rush  wantonly 
into  the  midst  of  danger.  But  Luther,  superior  to  such 
terrors,  silenced  them  with  this  reply:  "I  am  lawfully 
called,"  said  he,  "to  appear  in  that  city;  and  thither 
will  I  go  in  the  name  of  the  Lord,  though  as  many 
devils  as  there  are  tiles  on  the  houses  were  there  com- 
bined against  me."56 

The  reception  which  he  met  with  at  Worms  was 
such  as  he  might  have  reckoned  a  full  reward  of  all  his 
labors,  if  vanity  and  the  love  of  applause  had  been  the 
principles  by  which  he  was  influenced.  Greater  crowds 
assembled  to  behold  him  than  had  appeared  at  the  em- 
peror's public  entry;  his  apartments  were  daily  filled 
with  princes  and  personages  of  the  highest  rank,57  and 
he  was  treated  with  all  the  respect  paid  to  those  who 
possess  the  power  of  directing  the  understanding  and 
sentiments  of  other  men, — a  homage  more  sincere,  as 
well  as  more  flattering,  than  any  which  pre-eminence 
in  birth  or  condition  can  command.  -At  his  appear- 
ance before  the  diet  he  behaved  with  great  decency, 
and  with  equal  firmness.  He  readily  acknowledged  an 
excess  of  vehemence  and  acrimofly  in  his  controversial 
writings,  but  refused  to  retract  his  opinions  unless  he 
were  convinced  of  their  falsehood,  or  to  consent  to 
their  being  tried  by  any  other  rule  than  the  word  of 
God.  When  neither  threats  nor  entreaties  could  pre- 
vail on  him  to  depart  from  this  resolution,  some  of  the 
ecclesiastics  proposed  to  imitate  the  example  of  the 

s6  Luth.,  Oper.,  ii.  412. 

57  Seckend.,  156. — Luth.,  Oper.,  ii.  414. 


EMPEROR   CHARLES    THE  FIFTH.          511 

council  of  Constance,  and,  by  punishing  the  author 
of  this  pestilent  heresy,  who  was  now  in  their  power, 
to  deliver  the  Church  at  once  from  such  an  evil.  But, 
the  members  of  the  diet  refusing  to  expose  the  German 
integrity  to  fresh  reproach  by  a  second  violation  of 
public  faith,  and  Charles  being  no  less  unwilling  to 
bring  a  stain  upon  the  beginning  of  his  administra- 
tion by  such  an  ignominious  action,  Luther  was  per- 
mitted to  depart  in  safety.58  A  few  days  after  he  left 
the  city,  a  severe  edict  was  published,  in  the  em- 
peror's name  and  by  authority  of  the  diet,  depriving 
him,  as  an  obstinate  and  excommunicated  criminal, 
of  all  the  privileges  which  he  enjoyed  as  a  subject 
of  the  empire,  forbidding  any  prince  to  harbor  or  pro- 
tect him,  and  requiring  all  to  concur  in  seizing  his 
person  as  soon  as  the  term  specified  in  his  safe-conduct 
was  expired.59 

But  this  rigorous  decree  had  no  considerable  effect ; 
the  execution  of  it  being  prevented,  partly  by  the  mul- 
tiplicity of  occupations  which  the  commotions  in  Spain, 
together  with  the  wars  in  Italy  and  the  Low  Countries, 
created  to  the  emperor,  and  partly  by  a  prudent  pre- 
caution employed  by  the  elector  of  Saxony,  Luther's 
faithful  and  discerning  patron.  As  Luther,  on  his 
return  from  Worms,  was  passing  near  Altenstein  in 
Thuringia,  a  number  of  horsemen  in  masks  rushed 
suddenly  out  of  a  wood,  where  the  elector  had  ap- 
pointed them  to  lie  in  wait  for  him,  and,  surrounding 
his  company,  carried  him,  after  dismissing  all  his 
attendants,  to  Wartburg,  a  strong  castle  not  far  dis- 

s8  F.  Paul,  Hist,  of  Counc.,  p.  13. — Seckend.,  160. 
59  Gold.,  Const.  Imperial.,  ii.  401. 


512 


REIGN  OF   THE 


tant.  There  the  elector  ordered  him  to  be  supplied 
with  every  thing  necessary  or  agreeable ;  but  the  place 
of  his  retreat  was  carefully  concealed,  until  the  fury 
of  the  present  storm  against  him  began  to  abate,  upon 
a  change  in  the  political  situation  of  Europe.  In  this 
solitude,  where  he  remained  nine  months,  and  which 
he  frequently  called  his  Patmos,  after  the  name  of  that 
island  to  which  the  Apostle  John  was  banished,  he 
exerted  his  usual  vigor  and  industry  in  defence  of  his 
doctrines  or  in  confutation  of  his  adversaries,  publish- 
ing several  treatises,  which  revived  the  spirit  of  his 
followers,  astonished  to  a  great  degree,  and  disheart- 
ened, at  the  sudden  disappearance  of  their  leader. 

During  his  confinement  his  opinions  continued  to 
gain  ground,  acquiring  the  ascendant  in  almost  every 
city  in  Saxony.  At  this  time  the  Augustinians  of 
Wittemberg,  with  the  approbation  of  the  university 
and  the  connivance  of  the  elector,  ventured  upon  the 
first  step  towards  an  alteration  in  the  established  forms 
of  public  worship,  by  abolishing  the  celebration  of 
private  masses,  and  by  giving  the  cup  .as  well  as  the 
bread  to  the  laity  in  administering  the  sacrament  of 
the  Lord's  supper. 

Whatever  consolation  the  courage  and  success  of  his 
disciples,  or  the  progress  of  his  doctrines  in  his  own 
country,  afforded  Luther  in  his  retreat,  he  there  re- 
ceived information  of  two  events  which  considerably 
damped  his  joy,  as  they  seemed  to  lay  insuperable 
obstacles  in  the  way  of  propagating  his  principles  in 
the  two  most  powerful  kingdoms  of  Europe.  One  was 
a  solemn  decree,  condemning  his  opinions,  published 
by  the  University  of  Paris, — the  most  ancient,  and  at 


EMPEROR   CHARLES    THE  FIFTH.  513 

that  time  the  most  respectable,  of  the  learned  societies 
in  Europe.  The  other  was  the  answer  written  to  his 
book  concerning  the  Babylonish  captivity  by  Henry 
VIII.  of  England.  That  monarch,  having  been  edu- 
cated under  the  eye  of  a  suspicious  father,  who,  in 
order  to  prevent  his  attending  to  business,  kept  him 
occupied  in  the  study  of  literature,  still  retained  a 
greater  love  of  learning,  and  stronger  habits  of  appli- 
cation to  it,  than  are  common  among  princes  of  so 
active  a  disposition  and  such  violent  passions.  Being 
ambitious  of  acquiring  glory  of  every  kind,  as  well  as 
zealously  attached  to  the  Romish  Church,  and  highly 
exasperated  against  Luther,  who  had  treated  Thomas 
Aquinas,  his  favorite  author,  with  great  contempt, 
Henry  did  not  think  it  enough  to  exert  his  royal 
authority  in  opposing  the  opinions  of  the  Reformer, 
but  resolved  likewise  to  combat  them  with  scholastic 
weapons.  With  this  view  he  published  his  treatise  on 
the  seven  sacraments;  which,  though  forgotten  at  pres- 
ent, as  books  of  controversy  always  are  when  the  occa- 
sion that  produced  them  is  past,  is  not  destitute  of 
polemical  ingenuity  and  acuteness,  and  was  represented 
by  the  flattery  of  his  courtiers  to  be  a  work  of  such 
wonderful  science  and  learning  as  exalted  him  no  less 
above  other  authors  in  merit  than  he  was  distinguished 
among  them  by  his  rank.  The  pope,  to  whom  it  was 
presented  with  the  greatest  formality  in  full  consistory, 
spoke  of  it  in  such  terms  as  if  it  had  been  dictated  by 
immediate  inspiration,  and,  as  a  testimony  of  the  grati- 
tude of  the  Church  for  his  extraordinary  zeal,  conferred 
on  him  the  title  of  Defender  of  the  faith,  an  appella- 
tion which  Henry  soon  forfeited  in  the  opinion  of 
w* 


5 14  REIGN  OF  THE 

those  from  whom  he  derived  it,  and  which  is  still 
retained  by  his  successors,  though  the  avowed  enemy 
of  those  opinions  by  contending  for  which  he  merited 
that  honorable  distinction.  Luther,  who  was  not  over- 
awed either  by  the  authority  of  the  university  or  the 
dignity  of  the  monarch,  soon  published  his  animadver- 
sions on  both,  in  a  style  no  less  vehement  and  severe 
than  he  would  have  used  in  confuting  his  meanest  an- 
tagonist. This  indecent  boldness,  instead  of  shocking 
his  contemporaries,  was  considered  by  them  as  a  new 
proof  of  his  undaunted  spirit.  A  controversy  managed 
by  disputants  so  illustrious  drew  universal  attention  ; 
and  such  was  the  contagion  of  the  spirit  of  innovation 
diffused  through  Europe  in  that  age,  and  so  powerful 
the  evidence  which  accompanied  the  doctrines  of  the 
Reformers  on  their  first  publication,  that,  in  spite  both 
of  the  civil  and  ecclesiastical  powers  combined  against 
them,  they  daily  gained  converts  both  in  France  and 
in  England. 

How  desirous  soever  the  emperor  might  be  to  put  a 
stop  to  Luther's  progress,  he  was  often  obliged,  during 
the  diet  at  Worms,  to  turn  his  thoughts  to  matters  still 
more  interesting  and  which  demanded  more  immediate 
attention.  A  war  was  ready  to  break  out  between  him 
and  the  French  king  in  Navarre,  in  the  Low  Countries, 
and  in  Italy;  and  it  required  either  great  address  to 
avert  the  danger,  or  timely  and  wise  precautions  to 
resist  it.  Every  circumstance,  at  that  juncture,  in- 
clined Charles  to  prefer  the  former  measure.  Spain 
was  torn  with  intestine  commotions.  In  Italy,  he  had 
not  hitherto  secured  the  assistance  of  any  one  ally.  In 
the  Low  Countries,  his  subjects  trembled  at  the  thoughts 


EMPEROR    CHARLES   THE  FIFTH.          515 

of  a  rupture  with  France,  the  fatal  effects  of  which  on 
their  commerce  they  had  often  experienced.  From 
these  considerations,  as  well  as  from  the  solicitude  of 
Chievres,  during  his  whole  administration,  to  maintain 
peace  between  the  two  monarchs,  proceeded  the  em- 
peror's backwardness  to  commence  hostilities.  But 
Francis  and  his  ministers  did  not  breathe  the  same 
pacific  spirit.  He  easily  foresaw  that  concord  could 
not  long  subsist  where  interest,  emulation,  and  ambi- 
tion conspired  to  dissolve  it ;  and  he  possessed  several 
advantages  which  flattered  him  with  the  hopes  of 
surprising  his  rival,  and  of  overpowering  him,  before 
he  could  put  himself  in  a  posture  of  defence.  The 
French  king's  dominions,  from  their  compact  situation, 
from  their  subjection  to  the  royal  authority,  from  the 
genius  of  the  people,  fond  of  war,  and  attached  to 
their  sovereign  by  every  tie  of  duty  and  affection, 
were  more  capable  of  a  great  or  sudden  effort  than  the 
larger  but  disunited  territories  of  the  emperor,  in  one 
part  of  which  the  people  were  in  arms  against  his 
ministers,  and  in  all  his  prerogative  was  more  limited 
than  that  of  his  rival. 

The  only  princes  in  whose  power  it  was  to  have  kept 
down,  or  to  have  extinguished,  this  flame  on  its  first 
appearance,  either  neglected  to  exert  themselves  or 
were  active  in  kindling  and  spreading  it.  Henry 
VIII. ,  though  he  affected  to  assume  the  name  of  medi- 
ator, and  both  parties  made  frequent  appeals  to  him,  had 
laid  aside  the  impartiality  which  suited  that  character. 
Wolsey,  by  his  artifices,  had  estranged  himself  so  en- 
tirely from  the  French  king  that  he  secretly  fomented 
the  discord  which  he  ought  to  have  composed,  and 


516  REIGN  OF  THE 

waited  only  for  some  decent  pretext  to  join  his  arms 
to  those  of  the  emperor.60 

Leo's  endeavors  to  excite  discord  between  the  em- 
peror and  Francis  were  more  avowed,  and  had  greater 
influence.  Not  only  his  duty  as  the  common  father  of 
Christendom,  but  his  interest  as  an  Italian  potentate, 
called  upon  the  pope  to  act  as  the  guardian  of  the 
public  tranquillity,  and  to  avoid  any  measure  that 
might  overturn  the  system  which,  after  much  blood- 
shed and  many  negotiations,  was  now  established  in 
Italy.  Accordingly  Leo,  who  instantly  discerned  the 
propriety  of  this  conduct,  had  formed  a  scheme,  upon 
Charles's  promotion  to  the  imperial  dignity,  of  render- 
ing himself  the  umpire  between  the  rivals,  by  soothing 
them  alternately,  while  he  entered  into  no  close  con- 
federacy with  either ;  and  a  pontiff  less  ambitious  and 
enterprising  might  have  saved  Europe  from  many 
calamities  by  adhering  to  this  plan.  But  this  high- 
spirited  prelate,  who  was  still  in  the  prime  of  life, 
longed  passionately  to  distinguish  his  pontificate  by 
some  splendid  action.  He  was  impatient  to  wash  away 
the  infamy  of  having  lost  Parma  and  Placentia,  the 
acquisition  of  which  reflected  so  much  lustre  on  the 
administration  of  his  predecessor,  Julius.  He  beheld 
with  the  indignation  natural  to  Italians  in  that  age  the 
dominion  which  the  Transalpine,  or  as  they,  in  imita- 
tion of  the  Roman  arrogance,  denominated  them,  the 
barbarous  nations,  had  attained  in  Italy.  He  flattered 
himself  that  after  assisting  the  one  monarch  to  strip  the 
other  of  his  possessions  in  that  country  he  might  find 
means  of  driving  out  the  victor  in  his  turn,  and  acquire 

60  Herbert.— Fiddes's  Life  of  Wolsey,  258. 


EMPEROR  CHARLES  THE  FIFTH. 


517 


the  glory  of  restoring  Italy  to  the  liberty  and  happiness 
which  it  had  enjoyed  before  the  invasion  of  Charles 
VIII. ,  when  every  state  was  governed  by  its  native 
princes  or  its  own  laws,  and  unacquainted  with  a 
foreign  yoke.  Extravagant  and  chimerical  as  this  pro- 
ject may  seem,  it  was  the  favorite  object  of  almost 
every  Italian  eminent  for  genius  or  enterprise  during 
great  part  of  the  sixteenth  century.  They  vainly 
hoped  that  by  superior  skill  in  the  artifices  and  refine- 
ments of  negotiation  they  should  be  able  to  baffle  the 
efforts  of  nations  less  polished  indeed  than  themselves, 
but  much  more  powerful  and  warlike.  So  alluring  was 
the  prospect  of  this  to  Leo  that,  notwithstanding  the 
gentleness  of  his  disposition  and  his  fondness  for  the 
pleasures  of  a  refined  and  luxurious  ease,  he  hastened 
to  disturb  the  peace  of  Europe,  and  to  plunge  himself 
into  a  dangerous  war,  with  an  impetuosity  scarcely 
inferior  to  that  of  the  turbulent  and  martial  Julius.61 

It  was  in  Leo's  power,  however,  to  choose  which  of 
the  monarchs  he  would  take  for  his  confederate  against 
the  other.  Both  of  them  courted  his  friendship;  he 
wavered  for  some  time  between  them,  and  at  first  con- 
cluded an  alliance  with  Francis.  The  object  of  this 
'treaty  was  the  conquest  of  Naples,  which  the  confed- 
erates agreed  to  divide  between  them.  The  pope,  it  is 
probable,  flattered  himself  that  the  brisk  and  active 
spirit  of  Francis,  seconded  by  the  same  qualities  in 
his  subjects,  would  get  the  start  of  the  slow  and  wary 
counsels  of  the  emperor,  and  that  they  might  overrun 
with  ease  this  detached  portion  of  his  dominions,  ill 
provided  for  defence  and  always  the  prey  of  every 

61  Guic.,  lib.  xiv.  p.  173. 
Charles. — VOL.  I.  44 


518  REIGN  OF  THE 

invader.  But  whether  the  French  king,  by  discovering 
too  openly  his  suspicion  of  Leo's  sincerity,  disappointed 
these  hopes;  whether  the  treaty  was  only  an  artifice  of  the 
pope's  to  cover  the  more  serious  negotiations  which  he 
was  carrying  on  with  Charles ;  whether  he  was  enticed 
by  the  prospect  of  reaping  great  advantages  from  a 
union  with  that  prince ;  or  whether  he  was  soothed  by 
the  zeal  which  Charles  had  manifested  for  the  honor  of 
the  Church  in  condemning  Luther, — certain  it  is  that 
he  soon  deserted  his  new  ally,  and  made  overtures  of 
friendship,  though  with  great  secrecy,  to  the  emperor.62 
Don  John  Manuel,  the  same  man  who  had  been  the 
favorite  of  Philip,  and  whose  address  had  disconcerted 
all  Ferdinand's  schemes,  having  been  delivered,  upon 
the  death  of  that  monarch,  from  the  prison  to  which 
he  had  been  confined,  was  now  the  imperial  ambassador 
at  Rome,  and  fully  capable  of  improving  this  favorable 
disposition  in  the  pope  to  his  master's  advantage.63  To 
him  the  conduct  of  this  negotiation  was  entirely  com- 
mitted ;  and  being  carefully  concealed  from  Chievres, 
whose  aversion  to  a  war  with  France  would  have 
prompted  him  to  retard  or  to  defeat  it,  an  alliance 
between  the  pope  and  emperor  was  quickly  concluded.64 
The  chief  articles  in  this  treaty,  which  proved  the 
foundation  of  Charles's  grandeur  in  Italy,  were  that 
the  pope  and  emperor  should  join  their  forces  to  expel 
the  French  out  of  the  Milanese,  the  possession  of  which 
should  be  granted  to  Francis  Sforza,  a  son  of  Ludovico 

63  Guic.,  lib.  xiv.  p.  175. — Mem.  de  Bellay,  Par.,  1573,  p.  24. 
*3  Jovii  Vita  Leonis,  lib.  iv.  p.  89. 

**  Guic.,  lib.  xiv.  181. — Mem.  de  Bellay,  p.  24. — Du  Mont,  Corps 
Diplom.,  torn,  iv.,  suppl.,  p.  96. 


EMPEROR    CHARLES   THE  FIFTH.  519 

the  Moor,  who  had  resided  at  Trent  since  the  time 
that  his  brother  Maximilian  had  been  dispossessed  of 
his  dominions  by  the  French  king;  that  Parma  and 
Placentia  should  be  restored  to  the  Church ;  that  the 
emperor  should  assist  the  pope  in  conquering  Ferrara ; 
that  the  annual  tribute  paid  by  the  kingdom  of  Naples 
to  the  holy  see  should  be  increased  ;  that  the  emperor 
should  take  the  family  of  Medici  under  his  protection ; 
that  he  should  grant  to  the  cardinal  of  that  name  a 
pension  of  ten  thousand  ducats  upon  the  archbishopric 
of  Toledo,  and  should  settle  lands  in  the  kingdom  of 
Naples,  to  the  same  value,  upon  Alexander,  the  natural 
son  of  Lorenzo  de'  Medici. 

The  transacting  an  affair  of  such  moment  without  his 
participation  appeared  to  Chievres  so  decisive  a  proof 
of  his  having  lost  the  ascendant  which  he  had  hitherto 
maintained  over  the  mind  of  his  pupil,  that  his  chagrin 
on  this  account,  added  to  the  melancholy  with  which 
he  was  overwhelmed  on  taking  a  view  of  the  many  and 
unavoidable  calamities  attending  a  war  against  France, 
is  said  to  have  shortened  his  days.65  But  though  this> 
perhaps,  may  be  only  the  conjecture  of  historians,  fond 
of  attributing  every  thing  that  befalls  illustrious  person- 
ages to  extraordinary  causes,  and  of  ascribing  even 
their  diseases  and  death  to  the  effect  of  political  passions, 
which  are  more  apt  to  disturb  the  enjoyment  than  to 
abridge  the  period  of  life,  it  is  certain  that  his  death, 
at  this  critical  juncture,  extinguished  all  hopes  of  avoid- 
ing a  rupture  with  France.66  This  event,  too,  delivered 
Charles  from  a  minister  to  whose  authority  he  had  been 

*s  Belcarii  Comment,  de  Reb.  Gallic.,  483. 

46  P.  Heuter.  Rer.  Austr.,  lib.  viii.  c.  n,  p.  197. 


520 


REIGN  OF  THE 


accustomed  from  his  infancy  to  submit  with  such  im- 
plicit deference  as  checked  and  depressed  his  genius 
and  retained  him  in  a  state  of  pupilage  unbecoming  his 
years  as  well  as  his  rank.  But  this  restraint  being  re- 
moved, the  native  powers  of  his  mind  were  permitted 
to  unfold  themselves,  and  he  began  to  display  such 
great  talents,  both  in  council  and  in  action,  as  exceeded 
the  hopes  of  his  contemporaries,67  and  command  the 
admiration  of  posterity. 

While  the  pope  and  emperor  were  preparing,  in  con- 
sequence of  this  secret  alliance,  to  attack  Milan,  hos- 
tilities commenced  in  another  quarter.  The  children 
of  John  d'Albret,  king  of  Navarre,  having  often  de- 
manded the  restitution  of  their  hereditary  dominions, 
in  terms  of  the  treaty  of  Noyon,  and  Charles  having 
as  often  eluded  their  requests  upon  very  frivolous  pre- 
texts, Francis  thought  himself  authorized  by  that  treaty 
to  assist  the  exiled  family.  The  juncture  appeared 
extremely  favorable  for  such  an  enterprise.  Charles 
was  at  a  distance  from  that  part  of  his  dominions ;  the 
troops  usually  stationed  there  had  been,  called  away  to 
quell  the  commotions  in  Spain ;  the  Spanish  malecon- 
tents  warmly  solicited  him  to  invade  Navarre,68  in  which 
a  considerable  faction  was  ready  to  declare  for  the  de- 
scendants of  their  ancient  monarchs.  But,  in  order  to 
avoid  as  much  as  possible  giving  offence  to  the  emperor, 
or  king  of  England,  Francis  directed  forces  to  be  levied, 
and  the  war  to  be  carried  on,  not  in  his  own  name, 
but  in  that  of  Henry  d'Albret.  The  conduct  of  these 
troops  was  committed  to  Andrew  de  Foix,  de  1'Esparre, 
a  young  nobleman,  whom  his  near  alliance  to  the  un- 

«7  P.  Martyr.  Ep.,  735.  &  Ibid.,  721. 


EMPEROR   CHARLES    THE  FIFTH.  521 

fortunate  king  whose  battles  he  was  to  fight,  and,  what 
was  still  more  powerful,  the  interest  of  his  sister, 
Madame  de  Chateaubriand,  Francis's  favorite  mistress, 
recommended  to  that  important  trust,  for  which  he  had 
neither  talents  nor  experience.  But,  as  there  was  no 
army  in  the  field  to  oppose  him,  he  became  master,  in 
a  few  days,  of  the  whole  kingdom  of  Navarre,  without 
meeting  with  any  obstruction  but  from  the  citadel  of 
Pampeluna.  The  additional  works  of  this  fortress, 
begun  by  Ximenes,  were  still  unfinished  ;  nor  would  its 
slight  resistance  have  deserved  notice,  if  Ignatio  Loyola, 
a  Biscayan  gentleman,  had  not  been  dangerously 
wounded  in  its  defence.  During  the  progress  of  a 
lingering  cure,  Loyola  happened  to  have  no  other 
amusement  than  what  he  found  in  reading  the  lives  of 
the  saints :  the  effect  of  this  on  his  mind,  naturally  en- 
thusiastic, but  ambitious  and  daring,  was  to  inspire  him 
with  such  a  desire  of  emulating  the  glory  of  these  fab- 
ulous worthies  of  the  Roman  Church  as  led  him  into 
the  wildest  and  most  extravagant  adventures,  which 
terminated  at  last  in  instituting  the  society  of  Jesuits, 
the  most  political  and  best  regulated  of  all  the  monastic 
orders,  and  from  which  mankind  have  derived  more 
advantages  and  received  greater  injury  than  from  any 
other  of  those  religious  fraternities. 

If,  upon  the  reduction  of  Pampeluna,  L'Esparre  had 
been  satisfied  with  taking  proper  precautions  for  se- 
curing his  conquest,  the  kingdom  of  Navarre  might 
still  have  remained  annexed  to  the  crown  of  France  in 
reality  as  well  as  in  title.  But,  pushed  on  by  youthful 
ardor,  and  encouraged  by  Francis,  who  was  too  apt  to 
be  dazzled  with  success,  he  ventured  to  pass  the  con- 
44* 


522  REIGN  OF  THE 

fines  of  Navarre,  and  to  lay  siege  to  Logrogno,  a  small 
town  in  Castile.  This  roused  the  Castilians,  who  had 
hitherto  beheld  the  rapid  progress  of  his  arms  with 
great  unconcern,  and,  the  dissensions  in  that  kingdom 
(of  which  a  full  account  shall  be  given)  being  almost 
composed,  both  parties  exerted  themselves  with  emula- 
tion in  defence  of  their  country  :  the  one,  that  it  might 
efface  the  memory  of  past  misconduct  by  its  present 
zeal ;  the  other,  that  it  might  add  to  the  merit  of  hav- 
ing subdued  the  emperor's  rebellious  subjects  that  of 
repulsing  "his  foreign  enemies.  The  sudden  advance 
of  their  troops,  together  with  the  gallant  defence  made 
by  the  inhabitants  of  Logrogno,  obliged  the  French 
general  to  abandon  his  rash  enterprise.  The  Spanish 
army,  which  increased  every  day,  harassing  him  during 
his  retreat,  he,  instead  of  taking  shelter  under  the  can- 
non of  Pampeluna,  or  waiting  the  arrival  of  some 
troops  which  were  marching  to  join  him,  attacked  the 
Spaniards,  though  far  superior  to  him  in  number,  with 
great  impetuosity,  but  with  so  little  conduct  that  his 
forces  were  totally  routed,  he  himself,  together  with  his 
principal  officers,  was  taken  prisoner,  and  Spain  recov- 
ered possession  of  Navarre  in  still  shorter  time  than  the 
French  had  spent  in  the  conquest  of  it.69 

While  Francis  endeavored  to  justify  his  invasion  of 
Navarre  by  carrying  it  on  in  the  name  of  Henry  d'Al- 
bret,  he  had  recourse  to  an  artifice  much  of  the  same 
kind  in  attacking  another  part  of  the  emperor's  terri- 
tories. Robert  de  la  Mark,  lord  of  the  small  but  in- 
dependent territory  of  Bouillon,  situated  on  the  fron- 
tiers of  Luxembourg  and  Champagne,  having  abandoned 

69  Mem.  de  Bellay,  p.  21. — P.  Martyr.  Ep.,  726. 


EMPEROR  CHARLES  THE  FIFTH. 


523 


Charles's  service  on  account  of  an  encroachment  which 
the  Aulic  Council  had  made  on  his  jurisdiction,  and 
having  thrown  himself  upon  France  for  protection,  was 
easily  persuaded,  in  the  heat  of  his  resentment,  to  send 
a  herald  to  Worms  and  to  declare  war  against  the  em- 
peror in  form.  Such  extravagant  insolence  in  a  petty 
prince  surprised  Charles,  and  appeared  to  him  a  cer- 
tain proof  of  his  having  received  promises  of  powerful 
support  from  the  French  king.  The  justness  of  this 
conclusion  soon  became  evident.  Robert  entered  the 
duchy  of  Luxembourg  with  troops  levied  in  France,  by 
the  king's  connivance,  though  seemingly  in  contradic- 
tion to  his  orders,  and,  after  ravaging  the  open  country, 
laid  siege  to  Vireton.  Of  this  Charles  complained 
loudly,  as  a  direct  violation  of  the  peace  subsisting  be- 
tween the  two  crowns,  and  summoned  Henry  VIII.,  in 
terms  of  the  treaty  concluded  at  London  in  the  year 
1518,  to  turn  his  arms  against  Francis  as  the  first  ag- 
gressor. Francis  pretended  that  he  was  not  answera- 
ble for  Robert's  conduct,  whose  army  fought  under  his 
own  standards  and  in  his  own  quarrel,  and  affirmed 
that,  contrary  to  an  express  prohibition,  he  had  se- 
duced some  subjects  of  France  into  his  service ;  but 
Henry  pajd  so  little  regard  to  this  evasion  that  the 
French  king,  rather  than  irritate  a  prince  whom  he  still 
hoped  to  gain,  commanded  De  la  Mark  to  disband 
his  troops.70 

The  emperor,  meanwhile,  was  assembling  an  army  to 
chastise  Robert's  insolence.  Twenty  thousand  men, 
under  the  count  of  Nassau,  invaded  his  little  territo- 
ries, and  in  a  few  days  became  masters  of  every  place 

7°  Mem.  de  Bellay,  p.  22,  etc. — Mem.  de  Fleuranges,  p.  335,  etc. 


524  REIGN  OF  THE 

in  them  but  Sedan.  After  making  him  feel  so  sensibly 
the  weight  of  his  master's  indignation,  Nassau  advanced 
towards  the  frontiers  of  France ;  and  Charles,  knowing 
that  he  might  presume  so  far  on  Henry's  partiality  in 
his  favor  as  not  to  be  overawed  by  the  same  fears  which 
had  restrained  Francis,  ordered  his  general  to  besiege 
Mouson.  The  cowardice  of  the  garrison  having  obliged 
the  governor  to  surrender  almost  without  resistance, 
Nassau  invested  Mezieres,  a  place  at  that  time  of  no 
considerable  strength,  but  so  advantageously  situated 
that  by  getting  possession  of  it  the  imperial  army  might 
have  penetrated  into  the  heart  of  Champagne,  in  which 
there  was  hardly  any  other  town  capable  of  obstructing 
its  progress.  Happily  for  France,  its  monarch,  sensible 
of  the  importance  of  this  fortress  and  of  the  danger  to 
which  it  was  exposed,  committed  the  defence  of  it  to 
the  Chevalier  Bayard,  distinguished  among  his  con- 
temporaries by  the  appellation  of  The  knight  without 
fear  and  without  reproach.11  This  man,  whose  prowess  in 
combat,  whose  punctilious-  honor  and  formal  gallantry, 
bear  a  nearer  resemblance  than  any  thing  recorded  in 
history  to  the  character  ascribed  to  the  heroes  of  chiv- 
alry, possessed  all  the  talents  which  form  a  great  general. 
These  he  had  many  occasions  of  exerting  in  the  de- 
fence of  Mezieres.  Partly  by  his  valor,  partly  by  his 
conduct,  he  protracted  the  siege  to  a  great  length,  and 
in  the  end  obliged  the  imperialists  to  raise  it,  with 
disgrace  and  loss.73  Francis,  at  the  head  of  a  numer- 
ous army,  soon  retook  Mouson,  and,  entering  the  Low 
Countries,  made  several  conquests  of  small  importance. 

7*  CEuvres  de  Brantome,  torn.  vi.  114. 
T*  Mem.  de  Bellay,  p.  25,  etc. 


EMPEROR    CHARLES   THE  FIFTH.  525 

In  the  neighborhood  of  Valenciennes,  through  an  excess 
of  caution,  an  error  with  which  he  cannot  be  often 
charged,  he  lost  an  opportunity  of  cutting  off  the  whole 
imperial  army;73  and,  what  was  still  more  unfortunate, 
he  disgusted  Charles,  duke  of  Bourbon,  high  constable 
of  France,  by  giving  the  command  of  the  van  to  the 
duke  d'Alencon,  though  this  post  of  honor  belonged  to 
Bourbon,  as  a  prerogative  of  his  office. 

During  these  operations  in  the  field,  a  congress  was 
held  at  Calais,  under  the  mediation  of  Henry  VIII. ,  in 
order  to  bring  all  differences  to  an  amicable  issue  ;  and 
if  the  intention  of  the  mediator  had  corresponded  in 
any  degree  to  his  professions,  it  could  hardly  have  failed 
of  producing  some  good  effect.  But  Henry  committed 
the  sole  management  of  the  negotiation,  with  unlimited 
powers,  to  Wolsey ;  and  this  choice  alone  was  sufficient 
to  have  rendered  it  abortive.  That  prelate,  bent  on 
attaining  the  papal  crown,  the  great  object  of  his 
ambition,  and  ready  to  sacrifice  every  thing  in  order 
to  gain  the  emperor's  interest,  was  so  little  able  to 
conceal  his  partiality  that  if  Francis  had  not  been  well 
acquainted  with  his  haughty  and  vindictive  temper  he 
would  have  declined  his  mediation.  Much  time  was 
spent  in  inquiring  who  had  begun  hostilities,  which 
Wolsey  affected  to  represent  as  the  principal  point ; 
and  by  throwing  the  blame  of  that  on  Francis  he  hoped 
to  justify  by  the  treaty  of  London  any  alliance  into 
which  his  master  should  enter  with  Charles.  The  con- 
ditions on  which  hostilities  might  be  terminated  came 
next  to  be  considered ;  but  with  regard  to  these  the 
emperor's  proposals  were  such  as  discovered  either  that 

73  p.  Martyr.  Ep.,  747. — Mem.  de  Bellay.  35. 


5 26  REIGN  OF  THE 

he  was  utterly  averse  to  peace,  or  that  he  knew  Wolsey 
would  approve  of  whatever  terms  should  be  offered 
in  his  name.  He  demanded  the  restitution  of  the 
duchy  of  Burgundy,  a  province  the  possession  of  which 
would  have  given  him  access  into  the  heart  of  France, 
and  required  to  be  released  from  the  homage  due  to 
the  crown  of  France  for  the  counties  of  Flanders  and 
Artois,  which  none  of  his  ancestors  had  ever  refused, 
and  which  he  had  bound  himself  by  the  treaty  of 
Noyon  to  ^renew.  These  terms,  to  which  a  high-spirited 
prince  would  scarcely  have  listened,  after  the  disasters 
of  an  unfortunate  war,  Francis  rejected  with  great  dis- 
dain ;  and  Charles  showing  no  inclination  to  comply 
with  the  more  equal  and  moderate  propositions  of  the 
French  monarch,  that  he  should  restore  Navarre  to  its 
lawful  prince  and  withdraw  his  troops  from  the  siege 
of  Tournay,  the  congress  broke  up  without  any  other 
effect  than  that  which  attends  unsuccessful  negotia- 
tions,— the  exasperating  of  the  parties  whom  it  was 
intended  to  reconcile.74 

During  the  continuance  of  the  congress,  Wolsey,  on 
pretence  that  the  emperor  himself  would  be  more  will- 
ing to  make  reasonable  concessions  than  his  ministers, 
made  an  excursion  to  Bruges  to  meet  that  monarch. 
He  was  received  by  Charles,  who  knew  his  vanity,  with 
as  much  respect  and  magnificence  as  if  he  had  been 
king  of  England.  But,  instead  of  advancing  the  treaty 
of  peace  by  this  interview,  Wolsey,  in  his  master's  name, 
concluded  a  league  with  the  emperor  against  Francis; 
in  which  it  was  stipulated  that  Charles  should  invade 
France  on  the  side  of  Spain,  and  Henry  in  Picardy, 

74  P.  Martyr.  Ep.,  739. — Herbert. 


EMPEROR  CHARLES  THE  FIFTH. 


527 


each  with  an  army  of  forty  thousand  men,  and  that, 
in  order  to  strengthen  their  union,  Charles  should 
espouse  the  princess  Mary,  Henry's  only  child,  and  the 
apparent  heir  of  his  dominions.75  Henry  produced 
no  better  reasons  for  this  measure,  equally  unjust  and 
impolitic,  than  the  article  in  the  treaty  of  London  by 
which  he  pretended  that  he  was  bound  to  take  arms 
against  the  French  king  as  the  first  aggressor,  and  the 
injury  which  he  alleged  Francis  had  done  him  in  per- 
mitting the  duke  of  Albany,  the  head  of  a  faction  in 
Scotland  which  opposed  the  interest  of  England,  to 
return  into  that  kingdom.  He  was  influenced,  how- 
ever, by  other  considerations.  The  advantages  which 
accrued  to  his  subjects  from  maintaining  an  exact  neu- 
trality, or  the  honor  that  resulted  to  himself  from  acting 
as  the  arbiter  between  the  contending  princes,  appeared 
to  his  youthful  imagination  so  inconsiderable,  when 
compared  with  the  glory  which  might  be  reaped  from 
leading  armies  or  conquering  provinces,  that  he  deter- 
mined to  remain  no  longer  in  a  state  of  inactivity. 
Having  once  taken  this  resolution,  his  inducements  to 
prefer  an  alliance  with  Charles  were  obvious.  He  had 
no  claim  upon  any  part  of  that  prince's  dominions, 
most  of  which  were  so  situated  that  he  could  not  attack 
them  without  great  difficulty  and  disadvantage ;  whereas 
several  maritime  provinces  of  France  had  been  long  in 
the  hands  of  the  English  monarchs,  whose  pretensions 
even  to  the  crown  of  that  kingdom  were  not  as  yet 
altogether  forgotten ;  and  the  possession  of  Calais  not 
only  gave  him  easy  access  into  some  of  those  provinces, 
but,  in  case  of  any  disaster,  afforded  him  a  secure  re- 

75  Rymer,  Feeder.,  xiii. — Herbert. 


5  28  REIGN  OF  THE 

treat.  While  Charles  attacked  France  on  one  frontier, 
Henry  flattered  himself  that  he  should  find  little  resist- 
ance on  the  other,  and  that  the  glory  of  reannexing 
to  the  crown  of  England  the  ancient  inheritance  of  its 
monarchs  on  the  Continent  was  reserved  for  his  reign. 
Wolsey  artfully  encouraged  these  vain  hopes,  which  led 
his  master  into  such  measures  as  were  most  subservient 
to  his  own  secret  schemes ;  and  the  English,  whose 
hereditary  animosity  against  the  French  was  apt  to 
rekindle ^on  every  occasion,  did  not  disapprove  of  the 
martial  spirit  of  their  sovereign. 

Meanwhile,  the  league  between  the  pope  and  the 
emperor  produced  great  effects  in  Italy,  and  rendered 
Lombardy  the  chief  theatre  of  war.  There  was  at  that 
time  such  contrariety  between  the  character  of  the 
French  and  the  Italians  that  the  latter  submitted  to 
the  government  of  the  former  with  greater  impatience 
than  they  expressed  under  the  dominion  of  other  for- 
eigners. The  phlegm  of  the  Germans  and  gravity  of 
the  Spaniards  suited  their  jealous  temper  and  ceremo- 
nious manners  better  than  the  French  gayety,  too 
prone  to  gallantry  and  too  little  attentive  to  decorum. 
Louis  XII.,  however,  by  the  equity  and  gertleness  of 
his  administration,  and  by  granting  the  Milanese  more 
extensive  privileges  than  those  they  had  enjoyed  under 
their  native  princes,  had  overcome  in  a  great  measure 
their  prejudices  and  reconciled  them  to  the  French 
government.  Francis,  on  recovering  that  duchy,  did 
not  imitate  the  example  of  his  predecessor.  Though 
too  generous  himself  to  oppress  his  people,  his  bound- 
less confidence  in  his  favorites,  and  his  negligence  in 
examining  into  the  conduct  of  those  whom  he  intrusted 


EMPEROR  CHARLES  THE  FIFTH. 


529 


with  power,  emboldened  them  to  venture  upon  any 
acts  of  oppression.  The  government  of  Milan  was 
committed  by  him  to  Odet  de  Foix,  Marechal  de 
Lautrec,  another  brother  of  Madame  de  Chateau- 
briand, an  officer  of  great  experience  and  reputation, 
but  haughty,  imperious,  rapacious,  and  incapable  either 
of  listening  to  advice  or  of  bearing  contradiction.  His 
insolence  and  exactions  totally  alienated  the  affections 
of  the  Milanese  from  France,  drove  many  of  the  con- 
siderable citizens  into  banishment,  and  forced  others 
to  retire  for  their  own  safety.  Among  the  last  was 
Jerome  Morone,  vice-chancellor  of  Milan,  a  man  whose 
genius  for  intrigue  and  enterprise  distinguished. him  in 
an  age  and  country  where  violent  factions,  as  well  as 
frequent  revolutions,  affording  great  scope  for  such 
talents,  produced  or  called  them  forth  in  great  abun- 
dance. He  repaired  to  Francis  Sforza,  whose  brother 
Maximilian  he  had  betrayed ;  and  suspecting  the 
pope's  intention  of  attacking  the  Milanese,  although 
his  treaty  with  the  emperor  was  not  yet  made  public, 
he  proposed  to  Leo,  in  the  name  of  Sforza,  a  scheme 
for  surprising  several  places  in  that  duchy  by  means 
of  the  exiles,  who,  from  hatred  to  the  French,  and 
from  attachment  to  their  former  masters,  were  ready 
for  any  desperate  enterprise.  Leo  not  only  encouraged 
the  attempt,  but  advanced  a  considerable  sum  towards 
the  execution  of  it ;  and  when,  through  unforeseen 
accidents,  it  failed  of  success  in  every  part,  he  allowed 
the  exiles,  who  had  assembled  in  a  body,  to  retire  to 
Reggio,  which  belonged  at  that  time  to  the  Church. 
The  Marechal  de  Foix,  who  commanded  at  Milan  in 
the  absence  of  his  brother  Lautrec,  who  was  then  in 

Charles. — Vol..  I. — X  45 


530  REIGN  OF  THE 

France,  tempted  with  the  hopes  of  catching  at  once,  as 
in  a  snare,  all  the  avowed  enemies  of  his  master's  gov- 
ernment in  that  country,  ventured  to  march  into  the 
ecclesiastical  territories  and  to  invest  Reggio.  But  the 
vigilance  and  good  conduct  of  Guicciardini,  the  his- 
torian, governor  of  that  place,  obliged  the  French  gen- 
eral to  abandon  the  enterprise  with  disgrace.76  Leo, 
on  receiving  this  intelligence,  with  which  he  was 
highly  pleased,  as  it  furnished  him  a  decent  pretence 
for  a  rupture  with  France,  immediately  assembled  the 
consistory  of  cardinals.  After  complaining  bitterly 
of  the  hostile  intentions  of  the  French  king,  and  mag- 
nifying the  emperor's  zeal  for  the  Church,  of  which 
he  had  given  a  recent  proof  by  his  proceedings  against 
Luther,  he  declared  that  he  was  constrained,  in  self- 
defence,  and  as  the  only  expedient  for  the  security  of 
the  ecclesiastical  state,  to  join  his  arms  to  those  of  that 
prince.  For  this  purpose,  he  now  pretended  to  con- 
clude a  treaty  with  Don  John  Manuel,  although  it  had 
really  been  signed  some  months  before  this  time ;  and 
he  publicly  excommunicated  De  Foix,  as  an  impious 
invader  of  St.  Peter's  patrimony. 

Leo  had  already  begun  preparations  for  war  by 
taking  into  pay  a  considerable  body  of  Swiss;  but  the 
imperial  troops  advanced  so  slowly  from  Naples  and 
Germany  that  it  was  the  middle  of  autumn  before  the 
army  took  the  field,  under  the  command  of  Prosper 
Colonna,  the  most  eminent  of  the  Italian  generals, 
whose  extreme  caution,  the  effect  of  long  experience 
in  the  art  of  war,  was  opposed  with  great  propriety  to 
the  impetuosity  of  the  French.  In  the  mean  time,  De 

76  Guic.,  lib.  xiv.  183. — Mem.  de  Bellay,  p.  38,  etc. 


EMPEROR  CHARLES  THE  FIFTH. 


53' 


Foix  despatched  courier  after  courier  to  inform  the 
king  of  the  danger  which  was  approaching.  Francis, 
whose  forces  were  either  employed  in  the  Low  Coun- 
tries or  assembling  on  the  frontiers  of  Spain,  and  who 
did  not  expect  so  sudden  an  attack  in  that  quarter, 
sent  ambassadors  to  his  allies  the  Swiss,  to  procure 
from  them  the  immediate  levy  of  an  additional  body 
of  troops,  and  commanded  Lautrec  to  repair  forthwith 
to  his  government.  That  general,  who  was  well  ac- 
quainted with  the  great  neglect  of  economy  in  the 
administration  of  the  king's  finances,  and  who  knew 
how  much  the  troops  in  the  Milanese  had  already  suf- 
fered from  the  want  of  their  pay,  refused  to  set  out 
unless  the  sum  of  three  hundred  thousand  crowns  was 
immediately  put  into  his  hands.  But  the  king,  Louise 
of  Savoy,  his  mother,  Semblancy,  the  superintendent 
of  finances,  having  promised,  even  with  an  oath,  that 
on  his  arrival  at  Milan  he  should  find  remittances 
for  the  sum  which  he  demanded,  upon  the  fait'i  of 
this  he  departed.  Unhappily  for  France,  Louise,  a 
woman  deceitful,  vindictive,  rapacious,  and  capable 
of  sacrificing  any  thing  to  the  gratification  of  her 
passions,  but  who  had  acquired  an  absolute  ascendant 
over  her  son  by  her  maternal  tenderness,  her  care  of 
his  education,  and  her  great  abilities,  was  resolved  not 
to  perform  this  promise.  Lautrec  having  incurred 
her  displeasure  by  his  haughtiness  in  neglecting  to 
pay  court  to  her,  and  by  the  freedom  with  which  he 
had  talked  concerning  some  of  her  adventures  in  gal- 
lantry, she,  in  order  to  deprive  him  of  the  honor  which 
he  might  have  gained  by  a  successful  defence  of  the 
Milanese,  seized  the  three  hundred  thousand  crowns 


S32 


REIGN  OF   THE 


destined  for  that  service  and  detained  them  for  hei 
own  use. 

Lautrec,  notwithstanding  this  cruel  disappointment, 
found  means  to  assemble  a  considerable  army,  though 
far  inferior  in  number  to  that  of  the  confederates.  He 
adopted  the  plan  of  defence  most  suitable  to  his  situ- 
ation, avoiding  a  pitched  battle  with  the  greatest  care, 
while  he  harassed  the  enemy  continually  with  his  light 
troops,  beat  up  their  quarters,  intercepted  their  con- 
voys, and, covered  or  relieved  every  place  which  they 
attempted  to  attack.  By  this  prudent  conduct  he  not 
only  retarded  their  progress,  but  would  have  soon 
wearied  out  the  pope,  who  had  hitherto  defrayed 
almost  the  whole  expense  of  the  war,  as  the  emperor, 
whose  revenues  in  Spain  were  dissipated  during  the 
commotions  in  that  country,  and  who  was  obliged  to 
support  a  numerous  army  in  the  Netherlands,  could  not 
make  any  considerable  remittances  into  Italy.  But  an 
unforeseen  accident  disconcerted  all  his  measures  and 
occasioned  a  fatal  reverse  in  the  French  affairs.  A 
body  of  twelve  thousand  Swiss  served  in  Lautrec's 
army  under  the  banners  of  the  republic,  with  which 
France  was  in  alliance.  In  consequence  of  a  law  no 
less  political  than  humane,  established  among  the  can- 
tons, their  troops  were  never  hired  out  by  public  au- 
thority to  both  the  contending  parties  in  any  war. 
This  law,  however,  the  love  of  gain  had  sometimes 
eluded,  and  private  persons  had  been  allowed  to  enlist 
in  what  service  they  pleased,  though  not  under  the 
public  banners,  but  under  those  of  their  particular 
officers.  The  cardinal  of  Sion,  who  still  preserved 
his  interest  among  his  countrymen  and  his  enmity  tc 


EMPEROR    CHARLES    THE  FIFTH. 


533 


France,  having  prevailed  on  them  to  connive  at  a  levy 
of  this  kind,  twelve  thousand  Swiss,  instigated  by  him, 
joined  the  army  of  the  confederates.  But  the  leaders 
in  the  cantons,  when  they  saw  so  many  of  their  country- 
men marching  under  the  hostile  standards  and  ready  to 
turn  their  arms  against  each  other,  became  so  sensible  of 
the  infamy  to  which  they  would  be  exposed  by  permit- 
ting this,  as  well  as  the  loss  they  might  suffer,  that  they 
despatched  couriers  commanding  their  people  to  leave 
both  armies  and  to  return  forthwith  into  their  own 
country.  The  cardinal  of  Sion,  however,  had  the 
address,  by  corrupting  the  messengers  appointed  to 
cury  this  order,  to  prevent  it  from  being  delivered  to 
the  Swiss  in  the  service  of  the  confederates;  but,  being 
intimated  in  due  form  to  those  in  the  French  army,  they, 
fatigued  with  the  length  of  the  campaign,  and  murmur- 
ing for  want  of  pay,  instantly  yielded  obedience,  in  spite 
of  Lautrec's  remonstrances  and  entreaties. 

After  the  desertion  of  a  body  which  formed  the 
strength  of  his  army,  Lautrec  durst  no  longer  face  the 
confederates.  He  retired  towards  Milan,  encamped  on 
the  banks  of  the  Adda,  and  placed  his  chief  hopes  of 
safety  in  preventing  the  enemy  from  passing  that  river ; 
an  expedient  for  defending  a  country  so  precarious 
that  there  are  few  instances  of  its  being  employed  with 
success  against  any  general  of  experience  or  abilities. 
Accordingly,  Colonna,  notwithstanding  Lautrec's  vigi- 
lance and  activity,  passed  the  Adda  with  little  loss, 
and  obliged  him  to  shut  himself  up  within  the  walls 
of  Milan,  which  the  confederates  were  preparing  to 
besiege,  when  an  unknown  person,  who  never  after- 
wards appeared  either  to  boast  of  this  service  or  to 
45* 


534 


REIGN  OF  THE 


claim  a  reward  for  it,  came  from  the  city,  and  ac- 
quainted Morone  that  if  the  army  would  advance  that 
night  the  Ghibelline  or  imperial  faction  would  put 
them  in  possession  of  one  of  the  gates.  Colonna, 
though  no  friend  to  rash  enterprises,  allowed  the  mar- 
quis de  Pescara  to  advance  with  the  Spanish  infantry, 
and  he  himself  followed  with  the  rest  of  his  troops. 
About  the  beginning  of  night,  Pescara,  arriving  at  t.  e 
Roman  gate  in  the  suburbs,  surprised  the  soldiers  whom 
he  found  there.  Those  posted  in  the  fortifications  ad- 
joining to  it  immediately  fled ;  the  marquis,  seizing 
the  works  which  they  abandoned,  and  pushing  forward 
incessantly,  though  with  no  less  caution  than  vigor, 
became  master  of  the  city  with  little  bloodshed,  and 
almost  without  resistance,  the  victors  being  as  much 
astonished  as  the  vanquished  at  the  facility  and  success 
of  the  attempt.  Lautrec  retired  precipitately  towards 
the  Venetian  territories  with  the  remains  of  his  shattered 
army ;  the  cities  of  the  Milanese,  following  the  fate  of 
the  capital,  surrendered  to  the  confederates ;  Parma  and 
Placentia  were  united  to  the  ecclesiastical  state ;  and, 
of  all  their  conquests  in  Lombardy,  only  the  town  of 
Cremona,  the  castle  of  Milan,  and  a  few  inconsiderable 
forts,  remained  in  the  hands  of  the  French.77 

Leo  received  the  accounts  of  this  rapid  succession  of 
prosperous  events  with  such  transports  of  joy  as  brought 
on  (if  we  may  believe  the  French  historians)  a  slight 
fever,  which,  being  neglected,  occasioned  his  death  on 
the  2d  of  December,  while  he  was  still  of  a  vigorous 

77  Guic.,  lib.  xiv.  190,  etc.  —  Mem.  de  Bellay,  42,  etc. — Galeacii 
Capella  de  Reb.  gest.  pro  restitut.  —  Fran.  Sfortiae  Comment.,  ap 
Scordium,  vol.  ii.  180,  etc. 


EMPEROR    CHARLES    THE  FIFTH. 


535 


age  and  at  the  haight  of  his  glory.  By  this  unexpected 
accident  the  spirit  of  the  confederacy  was  broken  and 
its  operation  suspended.  The  cardinals  of  Sion  and 
Medici  left  the  army,  that  they  might  be  present  in  the 
conclave ;  the  Swiss  were  recalled  by  their  superiors ; 
some  other  mercenaries  disbanded  for  want  of  pay; 
and  only  the  Spaniards,  and  a  few  Germans  in  the 
emperor's  service,  remained  to  defend  the  Milanese. 
But  Lautrec,  destitute  both  of  men  and  of  money,  was 
unable  to  improve  this  favorable  opportunity  in  the 
manner  which  he  would  have  wished.  The  vigilance 
of  Morone,  and  the  good  conduct  of  Colonna,  disap- 
pointed his  feeble  attempts  on  the  Milanese.  Guic- 
ciardini,  by  his  address  and  valor,  repulsed  a  bolder 
and  more  dangerous  attack  which  he  made  on  Parma.78 
Great  discord  prevailed  in  the  conclave  which  fol- 
lowed upon  Leo's  death,  and  all  the  arts  natural  to  men 
grown  old  in  intrigue,  when  contending  for  the  highest 
prize  an  ecclesiastic  can  obtain,  were  practised.  Wol- 
sey's  name,  notwithstanding  all  the  emperor's  magnifi- 
cent promises  to  favor  his  pretensions,  of  which  that 
prelate  did  not  fail  to  remind  him,  was  hardly  men- 
tioned in  the  conclave.  Julio,  Cardinal  de  Medici, 
Leo's  nephew,  who  was  more  eminent  than  any  other 
member  of  the  college  for  his  abilities,  his  wealth,  and 
his  experience  in  transacting  great  affairs,  had  already 
secured  fifteen  voices,  a  number  sufficient,  according 
to  the  forms  of  the  conclave,  to  exclude  any  other  can- 
didate, though  not  to  carry  his  own  election.  As  he 
was  still  in  the  prime  of  life,  all  the  aged  cardinals 
combined  against  him,  without  being  united  in  favot 

78  Guic.,  lib.  xiv.  214. 


536  REIGN  OF  THE 

of  any  other  person.  While  these  factions  were  en- 
deavoring to  gain,  to  corrupt,  or  to  weary  out  each 
other,  Medici  and  his  adherents  voted  one  morning  at 
the  scrutiny,  which,  according  to  the  form,  was  made 
every  day,  for  Cardinal  Adrian  of  Utrecht,  who  at  that 
time  governed  Spain  in  the  emperor's  name.  This  they 
did  merely  to  protract  time.  But,  the  adverse  party  in- 
stantly closing  with  them,  to  their  amazement  and  that 
of  all  Europe,  a  stranger  to  Italy,  unknown  to  the  per- 
sons who  gave  their  suffrages  in  his  favor,  and  unac- 
quainted with  the  manners  of  the  people  or  the  interest 
of  the  state  the  government  of  which  they  conferred 
upon  him,  was  unanimously  raised  to  the  papal  throne 
at  a  juncture  so  delicate  and  critical  as  would  have  de- 
manded all  the  sagacity  and  experience  of  one  of  the 
most  able  prelates  in  the  sacred  college.  The  cardinals 
themselves,  unable  to  give  a  reason  for  this  strange 
choice,  on  account  of  which,  as  they  marched  in  pro- 
cession from  the  conclave,  they  were  loaded  with  insults 
and  curses  by  the  Roman  people,  ascribed  it  to  an  im- 
mediate impulse  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  It  may  be  imputed 
with  greater  certainty  to  the  influence  of  Don  John 
Manuel,  the  imperial  ambassador,  who  by  his  address 
and  intrigues  facilitated  the  election  of  a  person  devoted 
to  his  master's  service  from  gratitude,  from  interest, 
and  from  inclination.79 

"Beside  the  influence  which  Charles  acquired  by 
Adrian's  promotion,  it  threw  great  lustre  on  his  ad- 
ministration. To  bestow  on  his  preceptor  such  a  noble 
recompense,  and  to  place  on  the  papal  throne  one 

79  Herm.  Moringi  Vita  Hadriani,  ap.  Casp.  Burman.  in  Analect.  de 
Hadr.,  p.  52. — Conc'av.  Hadr.,  ibid.,  p.  144,  etc. 


EMPEROR  CHARLES  THE  FIFTH. 


537 


whom  he  had  raised  from  obscurity,  were  acts  of  un- 
common magnificence  and  power.  Francis  observed, 
with  the  sensibility  of  a  rival,  the  pre-eminence  which 
the  emperor  was  gaining,  and  resolved  to  exert  himself 
with  fresh  vigor,  in  order  to  wrest  from  him  his  late 
conquests  in  Italy.  The  Swiss,  that  they  might  make 
some  reparation  to  the  French  king  for  having  with- 
drawn their  troops  from  his  army  so  unseasonably  as  to 
occasion  the  loss  of  the  Milanese,  permitted  him  to 
levy  ten  thousand  men  in  the  republic.  Together  with 
this  reinforcement,  Lautrec  received  from  the  king  a 
small  sum  of  money,  which  enabled  him  once  more  to 
take  the  field,  and,  after  seizing  by  surprise  or  force 
several  places  in  the  Milanese,  to  advance  within  a  few 
miles  of  the  capital.  The  confederate  army  was  in  no 
condition  to  obstruct  his  progress ;  for  though  the  in- 
habitants of  Milan,  by  the  artifices  of  Morone,  and  by 
the  popular  declamations  of  a  monk  whom  he  employed, 
were  inflamed  with  such  enthusiastic  zeal  against  the 
French  government  that  they  consented  to  raise  ex- 
traordinary contributions,  Colonna  must  soon  have 
abandoned  the  advantageous  camp  which  he  had  chosen 
at  Biocca,  and  have  dismissed  his  troops  for  want  of 
pay,  if  the  Swiss  in  the  French  service  had  not  once 
more  extricated  him  out  of  his  difficulties. 

The  insolence  and  caprice  of  those  mercenaries  were 
often  no  less  fatal  to  their  friends  than  their  valor  and 
discipline  were  formidable  to  their  enemies.  Having 
now  served  some  months  without  pay,  of  which  they 
complained  loudly,  a  sum  destined  for  their  use  was 
sent  from  France  under  a  convoy  of  horse  ;  but  Morone, 
whose  vigilant  eye  nothing  escaped,  posted  a  body  of 


538  REIGN  OF   THE 

troops  in  their  way,  so  that  the  party  which  escorted 
the  money  durst  not  advance.  On  receiving  intelli- 
gence of  this,  the  Swiss  lost  all  patience,  and  officers, 
as  well  as  soldiers,  crowding  around  Lautrec,  threatened 
with  one  voice  instantly  to  retire,  if  he  did  not  either 
advance  the  pay  which  was  due,  or  promise  to  lead  them 
next  morning  to  battle.  In  vain  did  Lautrec  remon- 
strate against  these  demands,  representing  to  them  the 
impossibility  of  the  former  and  the  rashness  of  the 
latter,  which  must  be  attended  with  certain  destruc- 
tion, as  the  enemy  occupied  a  camp  naturally  of  great 
strength,  and  which  by  art  they  had  rendered  almost 
inaccessible.  The  Swiss,  deaf  to  reason,  and  persuaded 
that  their  valor  was  capable  of  surmounting  every  ob- 
stacle, renewed  their  demand  with  great  fierceness, 
offering  themselves  to  form  the  vanguard  and  to  begin 
the  attack.  Lautrec,  unable  to  overcome  their  obsti- 
nacy, complied  with  their  request,  hoping,  perhaps, 
that  some  of  those  unforeseen  accidents  which  so  often 
determine  the  fate  of  battles  might  crown  this  rash 
enterprise  with  undeserved  success,  and  convinced  that 
the  effects  of  a  defeat  could  not  be  more  fatal  than 
those  which  would  certainly  follow  upon  the  retreat  of 
a  body  which  composed  one-half  of  his  army.  Next 
morning  the  Swiss  were  early  in  the  field,  and  marched 
with  the  greatest  intrepidity  against  an  enemy  deeply 
intrenched  on  every  side,  surrounded  with  artillery, 
and  prepared  to  receive  them.  As  they  advanced,  they 
sustained  a  furious  cannonade  with  great  firmness,  and, 
without  waiting  for  their  own  artillery,  rushed  impetu- 
ously upon  the  intrenchments.  But,  after  incredible 
efforts  of  valor,  which  were  seconded  with  great  spirit 


EMPEROR    CHARLES   THE  FIFTH.  535 

by  the  French,  having  lost  their  bravest  officers  and 
best  soldiers,  and  finding  that  they  could  make  no  im- 
pression on  the  enemy's  works,  they  sounded  a  retreat ; 
leaving  the  field  of  battle,  however,  like  men  repulsed 
but  not  vanquished,  in  close  array,  and  without  receiv- 
ing any  molestation  from  the  enemy. 

Next  day,  such  as  survived  set  out  for  their  own 
country;  and  Lautrec,  despairing  of  being  able  to 
make  any  further  resistance,  retired  into  France,  after 
throwing  garrisons  into  Cremona  and  a  few  other 
places;  all  of  which,  except  the  citadel  of  Cremona, 
Colonna  soon  obliged  to  surrender. 

Genoa,  however,  and  its  territories,  remaining  sub- 
ject to  France,  still  gave  Francis  considerable  footing 
in  Italy,  and  made  it  easy  for  him  to  execute  any 
scheme  for  the  recovery  of  the  Milanese.  But  Co- 
lonna, rendered  enterprising  by  continual  success,  and 
excited  by  the  solicitations  of  the  faction  of  the 
Adorni,  the  hereditary  enemies  of  the  Fregosi,  who, 
under  the  protection  of  France,  possessed  the  chief 
authority  in  Genoa,  determined  to  attempt  the  reduc- 
tion of  that  state,  and  accomplished  it  with  amazing 
facility.  He  became  master  of  Genoa  by  an  accident 
as  unexpected  as  that  which  had  given  him  possession 
of  Milan ;  and,  almost  without  oppositiojn  or  blood- 
shed, the  power  of  the  Adorni  and  the  authority  of 
the  emperor  were  established  in  Genoa.80 

Such  a  cruel  succession  of  misfortunes  affected  Francis 
with  deep  concern,  which  was  not  a  little  augmented  by 
the  unexpected  arrival  of  an  English  herald,  who,  in 
the  name  of  his  sovereign,  declared  war  in  form  against 

80  Jovii  Vita  F  rdin.  Davali,  p.  344. — Guic.,  lib.  xiv.  233. 


540  REIGN  OF  THE 

France.  This  step  was  taken  in  consequence  of  the 
treaty  which  Wolsey  had  concluded  with  the  emperor 
at  Bruges,  and  which  had  hitherto  been  kept  secret. 
Francis,  though  he  had  reason  to  be  surprised  with 
this  denunciation,  after  having  been  at  such  pains  to 
soothe  Henry  and  to  gain  his  minister,  received  the 
herald  with  great  composure  and  dignity,81  and,  with- 
out abandoning  any  of  the  schemes  which  he  was 
forming  against  the  emperor,  began  vigorous  prepara- 
tions for  resisting  this  new  enemy.  His  treasury, 
however,  being  exhausted  by  the  efforts  which  he  had 
already  made,  as  well  as  by  the  sums  he  expended  on 
his  pleasures,  he  had  recourse  to  extraordinary  expe- 
dients for  supplying  it.  Several  new  offices  were 
created  and  exposed  to  sale ;  the  royal  demesnes  were 
alienated  ;  unusual  taxes  were  imposed  ;  and  the  tomb 
of  St.  Martin  was  stripped  of  a  rail  of  massive  silver 
with  which  Louis  XL,  in  one  of  his  fits  of  devotion, 
had  encircled  it.  By  means  of  these  expedients  he 
was  enabled  to  levy  a  considerable  army,  and  to  put 
the  frontier  towns  in  a  good  posture  of  defence. 

The  emperor,  meanwhile,  was  no  less  solicitous  to 
draw  as  much  advantage  as  possible  from  the  accession 
of  such  a  powerful  ally;  and  the  prosperous  situation 
of  his  affairs  at  this  time  permitting  him  to  set  out  for 
Spain,  where  his  presence  was  extremely  necessary,  he 
visited  the  court  of  England  on  his  way  to  that  country. 
He  proposed  by  this  interview  not  only  to  strengthen 
the  bonds  of  friendship  which  united  him  with  Henry, 
and  to  excite  him  to  push  the  war  against  France  with 
vigor,  but  hoped  to  remove  any  disgust  or  resentment 

81  Journal  de  Louise  de  Savoie,  p.  119. 


EMPEROR   CHARLES    THE  FIFTH.  541 

that  Wolsey  might  have  conceived  on  account  of  the 
mortifying  disappointment  which  he  had  met  with  in 
the  late  conclave.  His  success  exceeded  his  most  san- 
guine expectations ;  and  by  his  artful  address,  during 
a  residence  of  six  weeks  in  England,  he  gained  not 
only  the  king  and  the  minister,  but  the  nation  itself. 
Henry,  whose  vanity  was  sensibly  flattered  by  such  a 
visit,  as  well  as  by  the  studied  respect  with  which  the 
emperor  treated  him  on  every  occasion,  entered  warmly 
into  all  his  schemes.  The  cardinal,  foreseeing,  from 
Adrian's  age  and  infirmities,  a  sudden  vacancy  in  the 
papal  see,  dissembled  or  forgot  his  resentment ;  and  as 
Charles,  besides  augmenting  the  pensions  which  he  had 
already  settled  on  him,  renewed  his  promise  of  favor- 
ing his  pretensions  to  the  papacy  with  all  his  interest, 
he  endeavored  to  merit  the  former,  and  to  secure  the 
accomplishment  of  the  latter,  by  fresh  services.  The 
nation,  sharing  in  the  glory  of  its  monarch,  and 
pleased  with  the  confidence  which  the  emperor  placed 
in  the  English,  by  creating  the  earl  of  Surrey  his  high- 
admiral,  discovered  no  less  inclination  to  commence 
hostilities  than  Henry  himself. 

In  order  to  give  Charles,  before  he  left  England,  a 
proof  of  this  general  ardor,  Surrey  sailed  with  such 
forces  as  were  ready,  and  ravaged  the  coasts  of  Nor- 
mandy. He  then  made  a  descent  on  Bretagne,  where 
he  plundered  and  burnt  Morlaix,  and  some  other 
places  of  less  consequence.  After  these  slight  excur- 
sions, attended  with  greater  dishonor  than  damage  to 
France,  he  repaired  to  Calais,  and  took  the  command 
of  the  principal  army,  consisting  of  sixteen  thousand 
men ;  with  which,  having  joined  the  Flemish  troops 

Charles. — VOL.  I.  46 


542  REIGN  OF  THE 

under  the  Count  de  Buren,  he  advanced  into  Picardy. 
The  army  which  'Francis  had  assembled  was  far  inferior 
in  number  to  these  united  bodies;  but  during  the  long 
wars  between  the  two  nations  the  French  had  discov- 
ered the  proper  method  of  defending  their  country 
against  the  English.  They  had  been  taught  by  their 
misfortunes  to  avoid  a  pitched  battle  with  the  utmost 
care,  and  to  endeavor,  by  throwing  garrisons  into  every 
place  capable  of  resistance,  by  watching  all  the  enemy's 
motions,  bv.  intercepting  their  convoys,  attacking  their 
advanced  posts,  and  harassing  them  continually  with 
their  numerous  cavalry,  to  ruin  them  with  the  length 
of  war,  or  to  beat  them  by  piecemeal.  This  plan  the 
duke  of  Vendome,  the  French  general  in  Picardy, 
pursued  with  no  less  prudence  than  success,  and  not 
only  prevented  Surrey  from  taking  any  town  of  impor- 
tance, but  obliged  him  to  retire  with  his  army,  greatly 
reduced  by  fatigue,  by  want  of  provisions,  and  by  the 
loss  which  it  had  sustained  in  several  unsuccessful 
skirmishes. 

Thus  ended  the  second  campaign,  in  a  war  the  most 
general  that  had  hitherto  been  kindled  in  Europe ;  and 
though  Francis,  by  his  mother's  ill-timed  resentment, 
by  the  disgusting  insolence  of  his  general,  and  the 
caprice  of  the  mercenary  troops  which  he  employed, 
had  lost  his  conquests  in  Italy,  yet  all  the  powers 
combined  against  him  had  not  been  able  to  make  any 
impression  on  his  hereditary  dominions;  and  wherever 
they  either  intended  or  attempted  an  attack,  he  was 
well  prepared  to  receive  them. 

While  the  Christian  princes  were  thus  wasting  each 
other's  strength,  Solyman  the  Magnificent  entered  Hun- 


EMPEROR   CHARLES    THE  FIFTH.  543 

gary  with  a  numerous  army,  and,  investing  Belgrade, 
which  was  deemed  the  chief  barrier  of  that  kingdom 
against  the  Turkish  arms,  soon  forced  it  to  surrender. 
Encouraged  by  this  success,  he  turned  his  victorious 
arms  against  the  island  of  Rhodes,  the  seat,  at  that 
time,  of  the  knights  of  St.  John  of  Jerusalem.  This 
small  state  he  attacked  with  such  a  numerous  army  as 
the  lords  of  Asia  have  been  accustomed,  in  every  age, 
ta bring  into  the  field.  Two  hundred  thousand  men, 
and  a  fleet  of  four  hundred  sail,  appeared  against  a 
town  defended  by  a  garrison  consisting  of  five  thousand 
soldiers  and  six  hundred  knights,  under  the  command 
of  Villiers  de  L'Isle  Adam,  the  grand  master,  whose 
wisdom  and  valor  rendered  him  worthy  of  that  station 
at  such  a  dangerous  juncture.  No  sooner  did  he  begin 
to  suspect  the  destination  of  Solyman's  vast  armaments 
than  he  despatched  messengers  to  all  the  Christian 
courts,  imploring  their  aid  against  the  common  enemy. 
But  though  every  prince  in  that  age  acknowledged 
Rhodes  to  be  the  great  bulwark  of  Christendom  in  the 
East,  and  trusted  to  the  gallantry  of  its  knights  as  the 
best  security  against  the  progress  of  the  Ottoman 
arms, — though  Adrian,  with  a  zeal  which  became  the 
head  and  father  of  the  Church,  exhorted  the  contend- 
ing powers  to  forget  their  private  quarrels,  and,  by 
uniting  their  arms,  to  prevent  the  infidels  from  de- 
stroying a  society  which  did  honor  to  the  Christian 
name, — yet  so  violent  and  implacable  was  the  animosity 
of  both  parties  that,  regardless  of  the  danger  to  which 
they  exposed  all  Europe,  and  unmoved  by  the  entreaties 
of  the  grand  master  or  the  admonitions  of  the  pope, 
they  suffered  Solyman  to  carry  on  his  operations  against 


544 


REIGN  OF   THE  EMPEROR    CHARLES    V. 


Rhodes  without  disturbance.  The  grand  master,  after 
incredible  efforts  of  courage,  of  patience,  and  of  mili- 
tary conduct,  during  a  siege  of  six  months,  —  after 
sustaining  many  assaults,  and  disputing  every  post 
with  amazing  obstinacy, — was  obliged  at  last  to  yield 
to  numbers ;  and,  having  obtained  an  honorable  capi- 
tulation from  the  sultan,  who  admired  and  respected  his 
virtue,  he  surrendered  the  town,  which  was  reduced  to 
a  heap  of  rubbish  and  destitute  of  every  resource.82 
Charles  .And  Francis,  ashamed  of  having  occasioned 
such  a  loss  to  Christendom  by  their  ambitious  contests, 
endeavored  to  throw  the  blame  of  it  on  each  other, 
while  all  Europe,  with  greater  justice,  imputed  it  equally 
to  both.  The  emperor,  by  way  of  reparation,  granted 
the  knights  of  St.  John  the  small  island  of  Malta,  in 
which  they  fixed  their  residence,  retaining,  though 
with  less  power  and  splendor,  their  ancient  spirit,  and 
implacable  enmity  to  the  infidels. 

82  Fontanus  de  Bello  Rhodio,  ap.  Scard.  Script.  Rer.  German.,  vol. 
ii.  p.  88. — P.  Barre,  Hist.  d'Alem.,  torn.  viii.  57. 


END   OF   VOL.    I. 


